CARACTERIZACIÓN Y ANÁLISIS DE LA VARIABILIDAD GENÉTICA DE ACCESIONES DE MORERA (Morus SPP) EMPLEANDO MARCADORES MICROSATÉLITES.

Contextualization: The analysis of genetic diversity is essential to preserve and adequately harness genetic resources, both plant and animal, and it is transcendental for developing selection and improvement strategies to obtain promising materials. Knowledge gap: There are few studies of characterization and analysis reported of genetic variability for mulberry Morus spp. in Colombia and need to be developed in order to provide information that enables refining and optimizing the management, use, and conservation of the available germplasm, contributing to the recovery and harnessing of these genetic resources' potential. Purpose: The research aimed to genetically characterize the mulberry, Morus spp., collection of the Cauca region sericulture project using microsatellite markers. Methodology: 36 accessions belonging to the mulberry collection conserved at the Centro de Estudios Vegetales La Rejoya (Center for Plant Studies La Rejoya in English) of Universidad del Cauca were evaluated using ten microsatellites fluorescently labeled. The diversity and genetic structure parameters were evaluated. Additionally, the genetic relationships were determined through a cluster analysis. Results and conclusions: 49 alleles were detected, with a mean PIC of 0.57, indicating the use of polymorphic and informative markers. The population structure analysis with the Bayesian (STRUCTURE v 2.3.4) and grouping methods (Neighbor- joining and PCoA) indicated three discrete population groups with significant genetic differentiation of 22% (AMOVA - Fst; p<0.001). It highlighted the finding of nineteen different genotypes, suggesting the presence of a high number of duplicate materials that will have to be evaluated for the possible elimination of redundant resources in the germplasm bank. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]