Genetic diversity of clover by SRAP

Sequence Related Amplified Polymorphism (SRAP) molecular markers were used to detect the genetic diversity and genetic relationship of 11 accessions, including red clover (Trifolium pratense), white clover (T. repens), alsike clover (T. hybridum) cultivars and white clover leaftype variant. This study indicated that forty primer pairs produced 426 polymorphic bands with 10.7 average polymorphic bands per primer pair, and the average percentage of polymorphic bands was 53.8%. SRAP cluster analysis showed that genetic similarity coefficient in white clover was from 0.455 to 0.927 and the average similarity coefficient was 0.854, in which novel bands in mutants of white clover were observed, indicating that DNA sequence between the clover and its mutants was different. Similarity coefficient in red clover was from 0.757 to 0.837, and the average similarity coefficient was0.791. These results of this study suggested that there was a rich genetic diversity among white clovers and red clover. Compared to white clover, red clover showed closer genetic similarity with alsike clover, indicating that SRAP technology could be used effectively for clover species and intraspecific genetic relationships, identification and analysis of genetic diversity.