Genetic characterization of maize (Zea mays L.) landraces grown in Kosovo assessed by MITE-Hbr markers

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine and describe genetic structure on autochthonous maize germplasm (flint types) from different localities in Kosovo using Hbr markers. The genetic characterization of 6-8 individual seedlings per each of 20 landraces was conducted by Hbr display calculated per selective base, the most efficient genetic diversity estimator to distinguish between landraces was primer combination Hbr-Int5-F/MseI+T. The strongest genetic relatedness (r = 55.57) had landrace ACC4 having orange colored seeds, showing the highest genetic uniformity when compared to other accessions. Clustering analysis using the Bayesian approach generated two genetic clusters for observed landraces. As a measure of population structure influenced by genetic drift and migration, Fst values for each genetic cluster were obtained. Higher Fst (0.4027) was calculated within the first genetic group comparing to the second one (0.2001), reflecting a higher levels of out-crossing and conservation between landraces from the first genetic cluster. A similar distribution of genetic linkages was observed from dendrogram, constructed using Dice coefficient and neighbour-joining (NJ) algorithm with minor deviations for landraces ACC6 and ACC28. Genotypes of ACCmk landrace reveal the highest genetic distinction compared to other genotypes, reflecting the highest number of bands (241) and the highest number of private bands (10) as the number of bands unique to a single population, respectively.