Research Article
Xinhong Guo
Abstract
Objective: Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) is a flowering plant in the mallow family, valued for its edible green fruits. The genetic diversity of Okra was analyzed to provide the theoretical basis for the collection, identification, protection and utilization of the germplasm resources of Okra plants. Method: The genetic diversity among 34 accessions of okra from different regions of China was investigated using Inter-simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR). Results: Out of the 128 repeatable bands detected, 90 bands were polymorphic. The percentage of polymorphic bands was 70.3%, with a mean of 7.6% of polymorphic bands per primer. With the 128 bands, the phylogenetic trees were constructed using the Unweighted Pair-Group Method with Arithmetic Average (UPGMA) cluster analysis. The 34 accessions were divided into two major groups in the evolutionary tree, and the two-dimensional matrix also confirmed this conclusion. The polymorphism information content (PIC) values varied from 0.4507 to 0.6801, indicating that the primers used were authentic. Conclusion: The genetic distance among the sample accessions ranged from 0.6 to 0.94. The data showed that there was a high degree of genetic diversity among the okra accessions revealed by the ISSR markers. Our results confirm the potential value of genetic diversity preservation for future breeding of Okra.