GENETIC DIVERSITY OF ARGENTINA TOMATO VARIETIES REVEALED BY MORPHOLOGICAL TRAITS, SIMPLE SEQUENCE REPEAT, AND SINGLE NUCLEOTIDE POLYMORPHISM MARKERS

Abstract

Twenty-six morphological traits as well as 47 single nucleotide polymorphism and simple sequence repeat markers were used to investigate genetic variation in 67 tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) varieties collected from Argentina between 1932 and 1974. Approximately 65.0% of the morphological traits and 55.3% of the molecular markers showed polymorphisms in the 67 varieties. Average taxonomic distance between any two varieties ranged from 0.6643 to 1.1776, while Nei’s genetic distance varied from 0 to 0.2022. Cluster analysis indicated that 67 varieties could be grouped into three clusters at both morphological and molecular levels. The varieties collected before 1960 had larger genetic variation than those collected after 1960.