Genetic diversity assessment of two wild species inAmorphophallusgenus from Yunnan Province

Species in the Amorphophallusgenus have long been cultivated as cash crops in China. However, the lack of genetic assessment of wild species has hindered the utilization of wild germplasm resources. In this study, the genetic diversity of two wild species of Amorphophallusgenus distributed in Yunnan province ( A. yunnanensisand A. tonkinensis) was analyzed using simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. The results showed that the polymorphisms of SSR loci were high, with the effective allele number ranging from 1.240 to 3.816. The observed heterozygosity (Ho) and expected heterozygosity (He) were 0.581 and 0.526 for A. yunnanensis, as well as 0.369 and 0.349 for A. tonkinensis, respectively. All genetic diversity indices suggested that the genetic diversity of A. yunnanensiswas higher than that of A. tonkinensis, which might be associated with the wider distribution range of A. yunnanensis. A moderate level of genetic differentiation between the two species was revealed (Fst = 0.132), and the genetic structure analyses could completely separate these two species from each other. Nevertheless, hybridizations between A. yunnanensisand A. tonkinensis were also detected, which indicated a relatively close relationship between the two species. The findings of our study could help the interspecific hybridization and the protection of wild resources of Amorphophallus.