GENETIC RELATIONSHIP OF SOYBEAN (GLYCINE MAX L.) GENOTYPES USING SCoT MARKERS

In the present investigation 28 genotypes of soybean were analysed using 37 start codon targeted (SCoT) markers and 37 primers produced 260 DNA fragments with an average of 7.03 bands per primer. From these 37 primers, primers SCoT 33 and SCoT 65 wos the most polymorphic, where 10 polymorphic amplification products were detected. The lowest number of amplified polymorphic fragments (2) was detected by primers SCoT 8, SCoT 14, SCoT 19, SCoT 31 and SCoT 59. Of the 260 amplified bands, 200 (77.27 %) were polymorphic, with an average of 5.41 polymorphic bands per primer. To determine the level of polymorphism in the analysed group of soybean genotypes, polymorphic information content (PIC) was calculated. The polymorphic information content (PIC) value ranged from 0.512 (ScoT 66) to 0.968 (SCoT 12) with an average of 0.777. The dendrogram of genetic relationships among 28 soybean genotypes based on 37 SCoT markers was constructed. The hierarchical cluster analysis showed that the soybean geno-types were divided into 4 main clusters. The markers used in this study created a number of polymorphic bands among the different cultivars that can be utilized as molecular markers for their differentiation. The obtained data indicated that SCoT technique could be used efficiently for identification and differentiation of the soybean genotypes.