Genetic diversity and relatedness of mango cultivars assessed by SSR markers

Assessment of genetic diversity and relatedness is an essential component of germplasm characterization and use. We analyzed 120 mango (Mangifera indica L.) genetic resources in Japan for their parentage, cultivar identification, genetic relatedness, and genetic diversity, using 46 polymorphic simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Ten sets of three SSR markers could successfully distinguish 83 genotypes with the exception of synonymous and identical accessions. We successfully assessed parentage, newly identifying or reconfirming both parents of 11 accessions, and revealing over 30 cultivars as offspring of ‘Haden’. Genetic relatedness and diversity analyses revealed three distinct clusters. Two clusters correspond to the groups of USA and India, which are closely related. The other includes accessions from Southeast and East Asia. The results agree with the previous identification of genetically distinct Indian and Southeast Asian types, and suggest that the Florida accessions, which originated from hybrids between those two types, are more closely related to the Indian type.