Genetic relationships and diversity among Tibetan wheat, common wheat and European spelt wheat revealed by RAPD markers

An endemic hexaploid wheat found in Tibet, China was taxonomically classified as a subspecies in common wheat, i.e. Triticum aestivum ssp. tibetanum. Seven accessions of the Tibetan wheat, 22 cultivars of common wheat and 17 lines of spelt wheat were used for RAPD analysis to study the genetic relationships of the Tibetan wheat with common wheat and spelt wheat, and to assess the genetic diversity (GD) among and within the taxa. RAPD polymorphism was found to be much higher within spelt wheat and the Tibetan wheat than within common wheat. The GD value between the Tibetan wheat and common wheat is lower than that between the Tibetan wheat and spelt wheat. The result of cluster analysis showed that the 46 genotypes were distinctly classified into two groups. Group 1 included all European spelt wheat lines, while group 2 includes all Chinese common wheat and the Tibetan wheat accessions. However, the Tibetan wheat was substantially differentiated from Chinese common wheat at a lower hierarchy. Our results support an earlier classification of the Tibetan wheat as a subspecies in common wheat. European spelt wheat and the Tibetan wheat showed much higher genetic diversity than Chinese common wheat, which could be used to diversify the genetic basis for common wheat breeding.