Genetic diversity analysis and conservation of the Chinese herb Salvia miltiorrhiza collected from different geographic origins in China

Salvia miltiorrhiza is an economically important floral herb. However, little work has been conducted to further our understanding of the genetics of this herb. In this study, a representative set of germplasm of S. miltiorrhiza populations was used to analyze genetic diversity using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) methodology. Twenty seven S. miltiorrhiza geographical populations from ten provinces in China were selected based on morphological diversity and geographic origin. A total of 528 unambiguous bands were identified by ten primer combinations of EcoRI +3 and MseI +3. Of those, 476 showed a clear polymorphism, representing 90% of the total bands. The samples showed different levels of similarity ranging between 0.504 and 0.789. The unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic averaging (UPGMA) cluster analysis conducted on polymorphic AFLP markers revealed that all these S. miltiorrhiza populations could be clearly distinguished into eight distinct groups as well as an intermediate. The population genetic diversity of S. miltiorrhiza revealed here had clear implications for conservation, management and use of the S. miltiorrhiza germplasm.