GENETIC DIVERSITY OF Moringa oleifera Lam. IN SOUTHEASTERN MEXICO

Abstract

Moringa oleifera Lam. is a plant with nutritional and nutraceutical properties. It was introduced from India to Mexico, and some of its ecotypes are cultivated for industrial use. These ecotypes show morphological variations, indicating genetic variation. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate eight simple sequence repeat (SSR) loci to assess the genetic diversity of 10 cultivated M. oleifera populations collected from the southeast of Mexico. All markers generated a total of 127 alleles, with 15.8 alleles per locus. The polymorphic information content of markers was 0.869, with an average heterozygosity of 0.194. At the population level, the Nei´s gene diversity was found to be 0.66, with 4.9 different alleles per locus and 5.2 genotypes on average per accession. The distribution of genetic variation was 20 % among populations, 58 % between individuals, and 22 % within individuals. The principal coordinate analysis (PcoA) plot and unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) linkage revealed three groups, corresponding to the three original genetic populations identified through structure analysis (Delta K = 3). Results showed significant differences in genetic diversity in M. oleifera populations stablished in Southeastern Mexico, which can be leveraged to increase the use of this germplasm.