A study of genetic diversity among Brassica napus and Brassica juncea germplasm collections using simple sequence repeat (SSR) molecular markers

Abstract

Brassica species represent a broad range of crops. This reflects the high degree of genetic diversity and related phenotypic plasticity. An understanding of the genetic basis of Brassica diversity aids both breeding and the discovery of rare alleles and traits. Simple sequence repeat (SSR) molecular markers are popular tools for assessing genetic diversity due to their high degree of polymorphism and their transferability across related species. We have applied public SSR markers to genotype international germplasm collections of B. napus and B. juncea as well as commercial Brassica lines grown in Australia. Results illustrate the genetic relationship between these lines and also provide a measure of the level of genetic uniformity within lines