Analysis of genetic diversity and relationships of cultivated and weedy types of Perilla frutescens collected from Korea by using microsatellite markers

Genetic diversity and relationship among the accessions of cultivated type of var. frutescens and related weedy types were studied with 11 n-ticrosatellite markers. A total of 71 alleles were detected with an average allele number of 6.5 per locus among 36 Penila accessions. Number of alleles per locus ranged from two for KWPE-56 and KWPE-39 to 14 for KWPE-53 and gene diversity varied from 0.461 to 0.877 with an average of 0.667 depending on the microsatellites. The average gene diversity values were 0.491 and 0.608 in cultivated and weedy types of var. firutescens and 0.524 in weedy type of var. crispa, respectively. In Korea, the accessions of weedy type of var. frutescens showed more variable than cultivated type of var. frutescens and weedy type of var. crispa. An UPGMA phylogenetic tree revealed three major groups which were congruent with their morphological characters except for several exceptional accessions. Although the mild species of cultivated types of P. frutescens has not yet been identified, our results may provide some evidence that the weedy types of P. frutescens are the key taxon for understanding the origin of cultivated var. frutescens, and the gene flow between cultivated and weedy types of P. frutescens might have occurred via multiple routes. The present reports on the microsatellite variation in Perilla crop mill aid in programming the genetic conservation and classification of the germplasm collections in Korea.