Genetic Diversity of Sugar Palm Populations from Cianjur and Banten revealed by Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) Markers

Abstract

Sugar palm (Arenga pinnata Merr.) originating from Indonesia, is classified as underutilized plant but has potential as water conservation and high productivity sugar producer. Therefore, it is important to have baseline genetic diversity information for this plant species. In this study, seven simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers were used to analyse genetic diversity of sugar palm trees among the populations collected from their natural areas, especially in Cianjur Regency located in West Java and Banten Province. To measure their genetic diversity, phylogenetic tree and principal coordinate analysis were performed using using recommended softwares. The results revealed that high allele variation (23-33 alleles) was observed among sugar palm samples tested, with an average allele number and polymorphism information content (PIC) value was 27.143 and 0.942 (0.937-0.951) respectively. All of SSR markers showed PIC value >0.9 which indicated that these markers were suitable for sugar palm diversity studies with a high differentiation. The UPGMA cluster analysis based on Nei’s standard genetic distance and principle coordinate analysis produced two main groups that wereCianjur and Banten populations, indicating the geographical differentiation.. Taken together, the generated information about genetic diversity of sugar palm in this study could importantly contribute to assist sugar palm breeding program in Indonesia.