ANALYSIS OF THE GENETIC DIVERSITY OF 58 BLUE HONEYSUCKLE (LONICERA CAERULEA L.) GERMPLASM RESOURCES USING SRAP MARKERS

Blue honeysuckle is a shrub species widely distributed in the northern regions of the world, the nutritious fruits of which have high economic value and are considered to have beneficial health effects. To gain a better understanding of the genetic background of blue honeysuckle, we employed sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) markers to analyse the genetic diversity of 58 blue honeysuckle germplasms, which are naturally distributed in China, Russia, and Japan. A total of 20 SRAP primer pairs showing clear polymorphisms, screened from 90 assessed primer pairs, were used to analyse genetic relationships among the 58 blue honeysuckle germplasms. The results revealed that the 20 primer pairs amplified 172 bands, among which, 143 bands were polymorphic, with a polymorphic rate of 83.1%. Each primer pair yielded between five and 12 bands, with an average band number of 8.6. Unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic (UPGMA) cluster analysis of the SRAP marker data revealed that genetic similarity coefficients of the 58 germplasms ranged from 0.68 to 0.95. The germplasms were divided into seven groups with a genetic similarity coefficient 0.74, with germplasms from China being characterised by greater differences than those from Russia. Wild genotypes from Mount Changbai and the Great Khingan mountains were classified into a single group, indicating that cultivar classification has been based on genotype composition. In general, blue honeysuckle has a high genetic diversity, which will provide a valuable basis for future breeding.