Genetic diversity, population structure and marker trait associations for alkaloid content and licit opium yield in India-wide collection of poppy (Papaver somniferum L.)

- Genetic diversity, differentiation and marker-trait association based on quantitative traits and AFLP marker in opium poppy.
- Identified 7 markers for morphine, 3 for codeine, 4 for thebaine, 6 for narcotine, 2 for papaverine and 5 for opium yield.
- Identified diverse germplasm lines for mapping populations to carry out linkage/QTL mapping.
- First report of population genetic structure and differentiation in India-wide collection of poppy.

The importance of alkaloids of opium poppy is increasing constantly worldwide to fulfill the demand of pharmaceutical industries. India is one of the countries to produce gum opium and contain many potential genotypes to attend the recent demand of alkaloids. So, for proper utilization of the available potential genotypes, the present investigation was carried out to study the genetic diversity and genetic differentiation along with marker-trait association based on quantitative traits as well as AFLP marker in a large number of germplasm lines of opium poppy which were collected from different parts of India. Various genetic parameters and correlation among different traits were also worked out to find out the particular traits enhancing yield potential. Eight AFLP primer pairs were deployed that generated 140 polymorphic bands with fragment ranging in size from 50 to 498 bp in size. The maximum gene diversity was found in the germplasm lines of UP. Most of the variability (96%) was partitioned into within populations implying that collection strategies for conservation should focus on a few populations with many individuals across the ecological amplitude of the population. Genetic differentiation was FST = 0.0413, that implies more or less complete panmixis. The morphine was found associated with seven AFLP loci, such as E-AAG/M-CAG_76, E-AAC/M-CAG_102, E-ACT/M-CTA_181, E-ACG/M-CTC_167, E-ACG/M-CTC_176, E-ACG/M-CTC_194, and E-ACG/M-CTC_102 which showed stability by both models (GLM, MLM) of analysis while three markers (E-ACT/M-CAA_53,E-ACT/M-CAA_243,E-AGG/M-CTG_241) for codeine, four markers (E-ACT/M-CAA_193,E-AAC/M-CAG_151, E-AAC/M-CAG_91, and E-AGC/M-CTA_75) for thebaine, six for narcotine (E-ACT/M-CAA_85, E-AGG/M-CTG_75, E-AAC/M-CAG_116, E-ACT/M-CTA_122, E-ACT/M-CTA_182, and E-ACT/M-CTA_209), two markers (E-AAG/M-CAG_303, and E-AAC/M-CAG_210) for papaverine and five markers (E-ACT/M-CAA_76, E-AAG/M-CAG_122, E-AAG/M-CAG_245, E-AGG/M-CTG_84, and E-AGG/M-CTG_219) for opium yield were found associated (P < 0.05). This is first report on population genetic structure and differentiation in India-wide collection of opium poppy. Based on both marker analysis, the germplasm lines BR296, BR061, BR059 and BR282 were identified utmost diverse for developing mapping populations to carry out linkage/QTL mapping of opioids in poppy. Simultaneously, these lines can also be used in multi-parent breeding program to develop new variety with targeted multi-traits. The associated AFLP markers for various alkaloids open the new avenues for alkaloid improvement breeding program with MAS, genome-wide association and QTL analysis.