Genetic diversity and population structure of 93 rice cultivars (lines) (Oryza sativa Xian group) in Qinba in China by 3 types of genetic markers

Background The Qinba region is the transition region between Indica and Japonica varieties in China. It has a long history of Indica rice planting of more than 7000 years and is also a planting area for fine-quality Indica rice. The aims of this study are to explore different genetic markers applied to the analysis population structure, genetic diversity, selection and optimization of molecular markers of Indica rice, thus providing more information for the protection and utilization on germplasm resources of Indica rice. Methods Fifteen phenotypic traits, a core set of 48 SSR markers which originated protocol for identification of rice varieties-SSR marker method in agricultural industry standard of the People's Republic of China (Ministry of Agriculture of the PRC, NY/T1433-2014, Protocol for identification of rice varieties-SSR marker method, 2014), and SNPs data obtained by genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS, NlaIII and MseI digestion, referred to as SNPs-NlaIII and SNPs-MseI, respectively) for this panel of 93 samples using the Illumina HiSeq2000 sequencing platform, were employed to explore the genetic diversity and population structure of 93 samples. Results The average of coefficient of variation (CV) and diversity index (H-e) were 29.72% and 1.83 ranging from 3.07% to 137.43%, and from 1.45 to 2.03, respectively. The correlation coefficient between 15 phenotypic traits ranged from 0.984 to -0.604. The first four PCs accounted for 70.693% phenotypic variation based on phenotypic analysis. A total of 379 alleles were obtained using SSR markers, encompassing an average of 8.0 alleles per primer. Polymorphic bands (PPB) and polymorphism information content (PIC) was 88.65% and 0.77, respectively. The Mantel test showed that the correlation between the genetic distance matrix based on SNPs-NlaIII and SNPs-MseI was the largest (R-2=0.88), and that based on 15 phenotypic traits and SSR was the smallest (R-2=0.09). The 93 samples could be clustered into two subgroups by 3 types of genetic markers. Molecular variance analysis revealed that the genetic variation was 2% among populations and 98% within populations (the Nm was 0.16), Tajima's D value was 1.66, the FST between the two populations was 0.61 based on 72,824 SNPs. Conclusions The population genetic variation explained by SNPs was larger than that explained by SSRs. The gene flow of 93 samples used in this study was larger than that of naturally self-pollinated crops, which may be caused by long-term breeding selection of Indica rice in the Qinba region. The genetic structure of the 93 samples was simple and lacked rare alleles.

Automated summary

This study investigated the population structure, genetic diversity, selection, and optimization of molecular markers for Indica rice in the Qinba region using different genetic markers. The results showed that the population genetic variation explained by SNPs was larger than that explained by SSRs. Additionally, it was found that the gene flow of Indica rice in the Qinba region is larger than that of naturally self-pollinated crops, and the genetic structure is simple with a lack of rare alleles.