Method of Constructing Core Collection for Malus sieversii in Xinjiang, China Using Molecular Markers

The method for constructing core collection of Malus sieversii based on molecular marker data was proposed. According to 128 SSR allele of 109 M. sieversii, an allele preferred sampling strategy was used to construct M. sieversii core collection, using the UPGMA (unweighted pair-group average method) cluster method according to Nei & Li, SM, and Jaccard genetic distances, by stepwise clustering, and compared with the random sampling strategy. The number of lost allele and t-test of Nei's gene diversity and Shannon's information index were used to evaluate the representative core collections. The results showed that compared with the random sampling strategy, allele preferred sampling strategy could construct more representative core collections. SM, Jaccard, and Nei & Li genetic distances had no significant difference for construction of M. sieversii core collection. SRAP (sequence-related amplified polymorphism) data and morphological data showed that allele preferred sampling strategy was a good sampling strategy for constructing core collection of M. sieversii. Allele preferred sampling strategy combined with SM, Jaccard, and Nei & Li genetic distances using stepwise clustering was the suitable method for constructing M. sieversii core collection.