Genetic diversity in wild soybean (Glycine soja Sieb. and Zucc.) accessions from southern islands of Korean peninsula

With 2 figures and 3 tablesKorea is a centre of genetic diversity for both cultivated [. Glycine max (L.) Merr] and wild (Glycine soja Sieb. and Zucc.) soybeans. Wild soybean is native to some of the 3 000 islands surrounding the Korean peninsula. The objective of this study was to estimate genetic diversity of wild soybeans collected from 24 inhabited islands off the southern coast of Korea. Forty simple sequence repeat markers covering the 20 soybean chromosomes were used to estimate genetic diversity among 66 wild accessions collected from 24 islands. Accessions collected from the islands were similar to the Korean mainland accessions for diversity index. Molecular variation between island and mainland populations was about 8% (P = 0.001) and 91.6% within wild soybean populations. Genetic variation (P = 0.001) among and within the island wild soybean populations was 9.8% and 90.2%, respectively. Wild soybeans from the islands may be specifically adapted to the adverse conditions such as wind, flooding, salt and drought and may have useful genes tolerance to various abiotic stresses and resistance to biotic traits.