Phylogenetic Analysis of Different Ploidy Saccharum spontaneum Based on rDNA-ITS Sequences.

Saccharum spontaneum L. is a crucial wild parent of modern sugarcane cultivars whose ploidy clones have been utilized successfully in improving the stress resistance and yield related traits of sugarcane cultivars. To establish knowledge regarding the genetic variances and evolutional relationships of ploidy clones of Saccharum spontaneum collected in China, the rDNA-ITS sequences of 62 ploidy clones including octaploid clones (2n = 64), nonaploid clones (2n = 72), decaploid clones (2n = 80), and dodecaploid clones (2n = 96), were obtained and analyzed. The rDNA-ITS sequences of four species from Saccharum and Sorghum bicolor selected as controls. The results showed that decaploid clones (2n = 80) possess the most abundant variances with 58 variable sites and 20 parsim-informative sites in ITS sequences, which were then followed by octaploid clones with 43 variable sites and 17 parsim-informative sites. In haplotype diversity, all four population exhibited high diversity, especially nonaploid and decaploid populations. By comparing the genetic distances among four ploidy populations, the dodecaploid population exhibited the closest relationship with the nonaploid population, and then the relationship strength decreased successively for the decaploid population and then for the octaploid population. Population differentiation analysis showed that the phenomena of population differentiation were not found among different ploidy populations, and low coefficient of gene differentiation(Gst) and high gene flow(Nm) occur among these populations possessing close genetic relationship. These results mentioned above will contribute to the understanding of the evolution of different ploidy populations of Saccharum spontaneum and provide vital knowledge for their utilization in sugarcane breeding and innovation.