Apricot is considered an ecologically and economically important tree species of the stone-fruit crops that is widely grown in temperate regions of the world. Very few studies on apricot genetic diversity assessment have been carried out from the regions of Kashmir and Ladakh. In this backdrop, the present study was carried out to analyse the genetic diversity and population structure of 120 apricot genotypes collected from both the regions using 21 SSR markers. A total of 52 alleles were amplified with average values of marker index (MI) = 0.7084, resolving power (RP) = 2.8690, polymorphism information content (PIC) = 0.3132, Na = 2.317, Ne = 1.720, I = 0.572, Ho = 0.284, He = 0.360 and an average polymorphism of 91.2% per assay indicating high level of genetic diversity. The neighbour-joining (NJ) dendrogram generated three main clusters among selected apricot genotypes independent of their geographical locations. Interestingly, the result of the dendrogram coincides with the results of structure analysis which showed that the 120 apricot genotypes could be assigned to three (K = 3) sub-populations and the grouping of genotypes did not follow their geographical location suggesting that they share the same genetic pool. Moreover, analysis of molecular variance showed that 73% of the variation was attributed to differences within the individuals, 25% among individuals while only 2% of the variation was observed among the populations. The present study represents the most comprehensive analysis of the genetic diversity and population structure of apricot genotypes in Kashmir and Ladakh regions of India.

中文翻译：

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使用SSR标记评估西北喜马拉雅杏（Prunus armeniaca L.）种质的遗传多样性和种群结构

杏被认为是在世界温带地区广泛种植的核果作物的生态和经济重要树种。在克什米尔和拉达克地区开展的杏遗传多样性评估研究很少。在此背景下，本研究使用 21 个 SSR 标记分析了从两个地区收集的 120 个杏基因型的遗传多样性和种群结构。共扩增出52个等位基因，平均标记指数（MI）=0.7084，分辨力（RP）=2.8690，多态信息含量（PIC）=0.3132，Na=2.317，Ne=1.720，一世= 0.572，Ho = 0.284，He = 0.360，每次测定的平均多态性为 91.2%，表明高水平的遗传多样性。邻接（NJ）树状图在选定的杏基因型中生成了三个主要簇，与它们的地理位置无关。有趣的是，树状图的结果与结构分析的结果一致，结果表明 120 个杏基因型可以归为三个（ķ= 3) 亚群和基因型分组不遵循它们的地理位置，表明它们共享相同的遗传库。此外，分子方差分析表明，73% 的变异归因于个体内部的差异，25% 的个体之间存在差异，而人群中仅观察到 2% 的变异。本研究代表了对印度克什米尔和拉达克地区杏基因型遗传多样性和种群结构的最全面分析。