APPLICATION OF SIMPLE SEQUENCES REPEATS FOR THE DISCRIMINATION OF PERSIMMON (DIOSPYROS KAKI THUNB.) 13 COLLECTION LINES

Persimmon is classified into four types depending on the nature of astringency-loss and the change in the flesh color. Generally, the method for persimmon cultivar identification has been based on morphological traits. However, germplasm exchange and frequent bud mutation would possibly result in homonymy and synonymy, which may cause cultivar confusion. Recently, studies of persimmon cultivar identification and genetic diversity have been carried out by using molecular markers. Discrimination of persimmon collection lines has not yet been evaluated by markers in South Korea. In this study, genetic diversity among 30 accessions of collection lines and cultivars was evaluated by using simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. From 22 SSR primer sets, a total of 469 polymorphic markers were detected among 17 cultivars and 13 collection lines. Analysis of pair-wise genetic similarity coefficient (Nei-Li) and unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic averaging (UPGMA) clustering revealed two main clusters including three subclusters for cluster I and two subclusters for cluster II. So far, the collection lines could be classified to the same group with their contrasting cultivars that showed similarities in phenotypic characteristics. However, in this study, these collection lines were clearly discriminated from contrasting cultivars by marker genotypes. The findings suggest that SSR markers can be useful for protecting intellectual property on newly developed cultivars.