Abstract
BackgroundVernonia (Vernonia galamensis) is a potential novel industrial crop due to high demand for its natural epoxidised oil, which can be used for the manufacturing of oleochemicals such as paints, plastic formulations (polyvinyl chloride), and pharmaceutical products. This study is initiated for the systematic and intensive genetic diversity assessment of V. galamensis accessions by SSR molecular markers to minimize the existing research gaps, provide a clue for germplasm conservation and further research. ResultsTwenty SSR markers were used for genetic diversity analyses of 150 individual V. galamensis accessions representing 10 populations, from which a total of 79 bands were identified across the entire loci. All the loci used showed high polymorphism that ranged from 0.50 to 0.96, while the mean observed heterozygosity (Ho) was 0.15 across all the 20 markers evaluated. The molecular variance analysis (AMOVA) showed significant variations despite low differentiation among populations which accounted for only 11% of the total variations. Populations clustering showed that the dendrogram and principal coordinate’s analysis roughly classified the 150 accessions into four groups. However, the Bayesian model-based clustering (STRUCTURE) grouped into 6 (K = 6) major gene pools. These analyses showed accessions collected from the same region of origin did not often grouped entirely together within a given major groups. ConclusionsThe result suggested that the markers applied to ten populations, in which East Showa and East Harerghe revealed higher genetic diversity, signaled that these areas are the hotspots for in-situ conservation of V. galamensis. In addition, the values of SSR markers such as heterozygosity, Shannon‘s index, polymorphic information content, and population clusters are important baseline information for future V. galamensis cultivation, breeding and genetic resource conservation endeavors in Ethiopia.