Genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationships among and within populations of Whitmania pigra and Hirudo nipponica based on ISSR and SRAP markers

The objective of this study was to obtain an overview of the genetic relationships among and within Whitmania pigra and Hirudo nipponica using the ISSR and SRAP markers that were derived from related accessions, 11 W. pigra and 4 H. nipponica, from 8 provinces in China. All populations were uniquely fingerprinted by two markers. Mean genetic similarities were estimated at 0.76 and 0.79 using the ISSRs and SRAPs. Two main clusters that separated the W. pigra and H. nipponica populations were produced using UPGMA analysis. The Mantel test resulted in a good fit (SRAP = 0.80609) to the fit (ISSR = 0.76006) of the cophenetic values. Comparing the two marker systems, the ISSR and SRAP similarity indices were correlated (r = 0.8564). Finally, an appropriate strategy for conserving the Hirudo germplasm is proposed.