SSR marker-based molecular characterization of lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) genotypes

Lentil is an important legume crop that plays a vital role in sustainable agriculture and human health. However, the restricted genetic foundation or parentage of contemporary cultivars has arisen as a serious challenge for lentil development. Therefore, determining the genetic diversity and yield-related characteristics is crucial for the breeder to broaden the genetic base and aid in selecting the desirable parents for hybrid development programmes.

In the current study, microsatellite markers were used for diversity analysis among 37 lentil genotypes. Morphological and molecular systems both were able to differentiate lentil genotypes. Among applied SSR primers 10 were able to produce successful amplifications with template DNA of all the studied genotypes of lentil.

A sum of 357 scoreable bands were produced, 148 of which accounted for 41.45% polymorphism. The UPGMA dendrogram grouped 37 lentil genotypes into 2 groups. PIC values ranged from 0.37 to 0.77. For this experiment, SSR 80, SSR 130, SSR 34-2 and SSR 33 were highly informative polymorphic markers, demonstrating the efficacy and higher resolution in exposing molecular genetic diversity among lentil genotypes. The highest numbers of alleles (5) were produced by SSR 80 primer which was selected as extremely polymorphic. This study reveals the variation across lentil genotypes, which might be employed further in breeding efforts for lentils that result in strong heterosis in the segregating generation. The SSR markers found as polymorphic may also be utilized for further polymorphism analysis among different set of lentil genotypes.