Genetic diversity in Indian bean (Lablab purpureus) accessions as revealed by quantitative traits and cross-species transferable SSR markers

Genetic diversity in 143 Indian bean [Lablab purpureus (L.) Sweet] accessions from India was assessed using simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. A total of 134 SSR markers developed from common bean, cowpea, mung bean, moth bean and Faba bean were used to assess their transferability to Indian bean. Quantitative traits as well as SSR marker data was used to analyse the genetic diversity analysis in 143 Indian bean accessions from different agroecological zones of India. Of the 134 SSR primers, 55 (41.0%) were found to be transferable since they showed reproducible polymorphic amplification products in Indian bean. The SSR primers derived from common bean fail to amplify any product in Indian bean. The results indicated that there is a potential for transferring SSR markers within legumes. The identification of a set of transferable SSR markers would enable the application of the SSR technology in Indian bean molecular research. To our knowledge, this is the first ever attempt to evaluate cross-species microsatellite (SSR) markers for a possible dissection of genetic diversity in Indian bean.