Abstract
Miscanthus is a perennial rhizomatous C4 grass native to East Asia. Endowed with great biomass yield, high ligno-cellulose composition, efficient use of radiation, nutrient and water, as well as tolerance to stress, Miscanthus has great potential as an excellent bioenergy crop. Despite of the high potential for biomass production of the allotriploid hybrid M. ×giganteus, derived from M. sacchariflorus and M. sinensis, other options need to be explored to improve the narrow genetic base of M. ×giganteus, and also to exploit other Miscanthus species, including M. sinensis (2n = 2x = 38), as bioenergy crops. In the present study, a large number of 459 M. sinensis accessions, collected from the wide geographical distribution regions in China, were genotyped using 23 SSR markers transferable from Brachypodium distachyon. Genetic diversity and population structure were assessed. High genetic diversity and differentiation of the germplasm were observed, with 115 alleles in total, a polymorphic rate of 0.77, Nei’s genetic diversity index (He) of 0.32 and polymorphism information content (PIC) of 0.26. Clustering of germplasm accessions was primarily in agreement with the natural geographic distribution. AMOVA and genetic distance analyses confirmed the genetic differentiation in the M. sinensis germplasm and it was grouped into five clusters or subpopulations. Significant genetic variation among subpopulations indicated obvious genetic differentiation in the collections, but within-subpopulation variation (83%) was substantially greater than the between-subpopulation variation (17%). Considerable phenotypic variation was observed for multiple traits among 300 M. sinensis accessions. Nine SSR markers were found to be associated with heading date and biomass yield. The diverse Chinese M. sinensis germplasm and newly identified SSR markers were proved to be valuable for breeding Miscanthus varieties with desired bioenergy traits.
Highlights
Miscanthus (Gramineae) is a genus of rhizomatous perennial C4 grass
The large difference of genetic diversity between the cultivated varieties and the wild germplasm could likely be attributed to domestication events that greatly reduced genetic diversity in popular varieties [34,35,36]
Evaluation of the genetic diversity in wild germplasm is crucial for efficient exploitation of the valuable alleles present in the wild resources, which has been demonstrated in previous studies for rice, maize and sweet sorghum [34,37,38,39,40,41,42]
Summary
Miscanthus (Gramineae) is a genus of rhizomatous perennial C4 grass. 6 giganteus a dedicated energy crop [1,2,3,4,5], due to its enormous yield of aboveground standing biomass [6,7] and high content of ligno-cellulose [8]. 6 giganteus is a sterile triploid hybrid from a spontaneous cross between M. sacchariflorus and M. senensis. 6 giganteus, is one of the most important members in Miscanthus genus [10,11]. Biomass yield of M. sinensis might be better than M. It is necessary to develop other species of Miscanthus genus, including
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
