Genetic Diversity Analysis of Soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merrill.] Germplasms in Bangladesh Using SSR Markers

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the genetic diversity and molecular characterization of 50 soybean genotypes in Bangladesh with 20 SSR markers. Genomic DNA was isolated by modified standard cetyl tri-methyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) extraction protocol and alleles were amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Allele sizes were estimated in comparison with 50 bp DNA ladder. The software NTSYSpc version 2.2 and POPGENE version 1.31 were utilized for molecular data analysis and preparation of dendrogram. Polymorphic Information Content (PIC) values varied from 0.53 (Satt664) to 0.98 (Satt009, Satt330 and Satt522) with the mean value 0.897 and expected heterozygosity varied from 0.4059 (Satt685) to 0.1246 (Satt664) with the mean value 0.244. The dendrogram analysis depicted that the 50 genotypes were grouped in four (4) major clusters. The most diverse genotypes were SBG-1, PM-78-6-3-13, BS-3 and AGS-31, which suggest that the simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers are very efficient for genetic diversity analysis. The similarity matrix revealed the diversity among genotypes. The diverse genetic materials obtained from the present study on genetic diversity of soybean genotypes in Bangladesh may be utilized in the future breeding programme.