Distribution, Genetic Diversity and Population Structure of Aegilops tauschii Coss. in Major Wheat-Growing Regions in China

Aegilops tauschii Coss. is known as a noxious grass weed seriously affecting wheat quality and yield. To investigate its present occurrence in fields the potential genetic diversity of China, filed survey covering major production regions was conducted during 2017–2019. Seeds different Ae. populations collected from were analyzed with Simple Sequence Repeats (SSRs) technique. Results showed that occurring each provinces surveyed varied frequency ranging 0.91% Sichuan Province to 92.85% Henan Provinces. Eighty alleles size 98 bp 277 detected 192 17 SSR markers. tauschii, this study, exhibited moderately high level diversity, differentiation, deficient heterozygosity limited gene flow. Compared other provinces, Hubei possessed relatively low diversity. Dendrogram analysis distance did not seem be related geographic distribution. Additionally, STRUCTURE suggested China can divided into three groups, which further supported by cluster analysis. Among solely 7% total variation detected, whereas majority (67%) occurred among within same group. Undoubtedly, such information will help us better understand population relationships spread provide new perspective for integrated management.