Genetic Variation Within and Among Populations of Maize Inbred B37 Revealed By SSR Markers

Abstract

ABSTRACTHistorically important public US inbred line B37 continues to play an important role in maize (Zea mays L.) improvement in many different breeding programs. Since its original release it has undergone numerous seed increases in diverse programs that may lead to genetic changes due to artificial selection, drift mutations etc. Our objective was to estimate the level of genetic diversity among and within two B37 inbred populations from different sources in Bulgaria (Maize Research Institute (MRI) - Kneja and Institute of Forage Crops-Pleven) using 10 SSR markers. The set of SSR markers detected in average 1.9 different allelic variants per locus for two B37 populations, with mean expected heterozygosity (He)=0.170 for population from MRJ-Kneja and 0.046 for populations from IFC—Pleven. Cluster analyses indicated that both populations could be distinguished from each other. The observed new allelic variants at microsatellite loci bnlg1917, dupssr21 and bnlg1017 could be successfully used as markers for distinguishing of the maintained by different breeding programs populations of the inbred B37.