Molecular Characterization and Population Genetic Structure of Fagopyrum Species Cultivated in Himalayan Regions

Fagopyrum spp. (buckwheat) is a dicotyledonous pseudocereal crop mainly cultivated in the north-western Himalayan regions for its highly nutritional, antioxidant and therapeutic values. In present investigation, molecular characterization was performed by using ISSR (inter simple sequence repeat) markers on 42 accessions of four buckwheat species (Fagopyrum esculentum, F. sagittatum, tataricum kashmirianum). The 12 pre-screened primers amplified 102 bands, amongst them 85 bands exhibited polymorphism with an average 82.73%. results revealed that Shannon’s information indices (I) Nei’s genetic diversity (H) were low (I = 0.1028 ± 0.2307; H 0.0707 0.1617) high esculentum 0.1715 0.2622; 0.1164 0.1796). It estimated within species, (HT) mean (HS) 0.3200 0.1041, respectively. Molecular variance partitioning AMOVA also indicated significant differentiation accounting 73% among 27% species. Overall, had greatest distance from other which includes kashmirianum as FST unbiased distance. dendograms based UPGMA PCoA segregated into three major groups. This study clearly reveals considerable amount at intra-specific level sagittatum accessions. factors responsible it are diverse geographical conditions, pollinating behavior cultivation practices adapted these regions. close phylogenetic relationship between kashmirianum.