Chinese Sesame Cultivars, DNA Fingerprinting, and Two‐dimensional Barcodes Using Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms, Insertions or Deletions, and Simple Sequence Repeat Markers

Abstract

Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) is one of the most important oilseed crops. Accurate and efficient means to identify each variety of sesame are needed for improvement of the sesame production market. In this study, three kinds of molecular markers were used for DNA fingerprinting of 151 sesame cultivars released in China since 1960: single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), insertions or deletions (InDels), and simple sequence repeats (SSRs). The 140 polymorphic markers used (47 SNPs, 47 InDels, and 46 SSRs) revealed a narrow range of genetic variation among the 151 Chinese sesame cultivars. Clustering analysis classified them into three main groups, which were consistent with the cultivars’ geographical distribution. Three of the 151 cultivars (AH03, AH04, and AH05 from the Anhui Province) were considered synonymous cultivars because of their high genetic similarity coefficients ( > 98%). Overall, 15 SNPs, 14 InDels, and 9 SSRs were sufficient to distinguish all sesame cultivars and the DNA fingerprints generated from these markers allowed establishing two‐dimensional graphical barcodes to accurately and rapidly identify sesame cultivars. Thus, we have provided a useful protocol for the identification and authentication of various sesame cultivars and revealed the usefulness of SNPs, InDels, and SSRs in cultivar identification and intellectual property protection; the fingerprinting codes obtained for the 151 sesame cultivars should be useful in sesame breeding and marketing seed.