Kersting’s groundnut (Macrotyloma geocarpum (Harms) Maréchal & Baudet) is an important source of protein and essential nutrients that contribute to food security in West Africa. However, the crop is still underexploited by the populations and under-researched by the scientific community. This study aimed to investigate the genetic diversity and population structure of 217 Kersting’s groundnut accessions from five origins using 886 DArTseq markers. Gene diversity was low and ranged from 0.049 to 0.064. The number of private alleles greatly varied among populations (42–192) and morphotypes (40–339). Moderate to very high levels of selfing and inbreeding were observed among populations (s = 56–85%, F_IS = 0.389–0.736) and morphotypes (s = 57–82%, F_IS = 0.400–0.691). Moreover, little to very high genetic differentiations were observed among populations (0.006 ≤ F_IS ≤ 0.371) and morphotypes (0.029 ≤ F_IS ≤ 0.307). Analysis of molecular variance partitioned 38.5% of the genetic variation among and 48.7% within populations (P < 0.001). Significant isolation by distance was detected between populations (R² = 0.612, P = 0.011) and accessions (R² = 0.499, P < 0.001). Discriminant analysis of principal components and neighbour joining consistently distinguished eight distinct clusters. These data provide a global picture of the existing genetic diversity for Kersting’s groundnut and will guide the choice of breeding strategies to increase production.

柯斯汀的花生（Macrotyloma geocarpum（Harms）Maréchal＆Baudet）是蛋白质和重要营养素的重要来源，有助于西非的粮食安全。但是，该作物仍未被人们充分利用，而科学界也未对其进行充分研究。这项研究旨在使用886 DArTseq标记研究五个来源的217个Kersting花生种质的遗传多样性和种群结构。基因多样性低，范​​围从0.049到0.064。个体（42-192）和形态型（40-339）之间的私人等位基因数目差异很大。在人群中（s = 56–85％，F _IS  = 0.389–0.736）和形态型（s = 57–82％，F _IS）观察到中等至非常高的自交和近交水平 = 0.400–0.691）。此外，进行了人群中几乎没有观察到非常高的遗传分化（0.006≤  ˚F _IS  ≤0.371）和形态（0.029≤  ˚F _IS  ≤0.307）。分子变异分析在人群中遗传变异的38.5％和人群中遗传变异的48.7％之间进行了分配（P  <0.001）。在种群（R ²  = 0.612，P  = 0.011）和种质（R ²  = 0.499，P）之间检测到显着的距离隔离 <0.001）。主成分和邻居加入的判别分析一致地区分出八个不同的聚类。这些数据提供了柯斯特（Kersting）花生现有遗传多样性的全球概况，并将指导选择育种策略以增加产量。