Genetic Similarity Analysis in Lentil Using Cross-Genera Legume Sequence Tagged Microsatellite Site Markers

Molecular markers have emerged as useful tools to assess the genetic diversity across crops. In lentil, molecular markers are limited. The objective of the study was to explore cross-genera transferability of sequence tagged microsatellite site (STMS) markers from related legumes and assess their utility in lentils. Thirty lentil (Lens culinaris Medik. subsp. culinaris) accessions were evaluated for genetic similarity analysis using cross-genera STMS markers. Thirty-nine STMS markers amplified 68 alleles with an average of 1.74 alleles per locus. Twenty lentil-specific STMS markers produced a total of 36 amplicons, of which 90% (18) markers were polymorphic. A maximum of four alleles were obtained with primers SSR13 and SSR19. Of 47 STMS markers from other legume genera, only 19 markers produced 32 scorable amplicons, and only 58% (11) of the amplified markers exhibited polymorphism. The polymorphism information content values observed with lentil specific markers ranged from 0.02 to 0.99, while for transferrable markers it ranged from 0.06 to 0.84. Maximum genetic similarity was observed between ‘NDL1’ and ‘LH84-8’ (0.942) and minimum between ‘PL234’ and ‘Precoz’ (0.709). The dendrogram based on Jaccard's similarity coefficients showed limited genetic variability among the cultivars included in the present study. A combination of lentil-specific and transferrable STMS markers was successfully used for identification of genetic similarity in lentil germplasm.