Peroxidase Gene Markers Revealed Genetic Diversity and Population Structure in Okra Germplasm

Abstract

Okra is a widely grown vegetable crop in various regions of the world and provides significant amounts of vitamins and minerals. Numerous researchers have documented the efficacy of phenotypic and molecular classification of the diverse okra germplasm collections found throughout the world. The genetic variation of Turkish okra germplasm, which included 39 genotypes, was characterized using 14 POGP (peroxidase gene polymorphism) primer pairs in comparison to other world okra genotypes and accessions, which contained 27 genotypes. A total of 84 bands were generated using 14 POGP primer pairs, with 43 (51%) of them being polymorphic between okra accessions. The values of polymorphism information content ranged from 0.03 to 0.99, with an average of 0.48. The range and mean values for gene diversity (h) were 0.03-0.42 and 0.25, respectively. Shannon's information index (I) varied between 0.07 and 0.62 for each POGP marker, with a mean of 0.40. The most divergent genotypes were found to have a GS value of 0.23, with IN-7 and TR20-3 being the genetically most distant. The STRUCTURE, PCoA and Neighbor-joining analysis separated the okra germplasm into three populations. AMOVA revealed 23 and 77% variance across and within populations, respectively. Although the germplasm of okra is generally homogenous, the influence of shared genes is more significant. For the first time, the genetic composition of okra was determined using peroxidase gene markers.