Molecular characterization of diverse CIMMYT maize inbred lines from eastern and southern Africa using single nucleotide polymorphic markers

Abstract

Knowledge of germplasm diversity and relationships among elite breeding materials is fundamentally important in crop improvement. We genotyped 450 maize inbred lines developed and/or widely used by CIMMYT breeding programs in both Kenya and Zimbabwe using 1065 SNP markers to (i) investigate population structure and patterns of relationship of the germplasm for better exploitation in breeding programs; (ii) assess the usefulness of SNPs for identifying heterotic groups commonly used by CIMMYT breeding programs; and (iii) identify a subset of highly informative SNP markers for routine and low cost genotyping of CIMMYT germplasm in the region.

Knowledge of germplasm diversity and relationships among elite breeding materials is fundamentally important in crop improvement. We genotyped 450 maize inbred lines developed and/or widely used by CIMMYT breeding programs in both Kenya and Zimbabwe using 1065 SNP markers to (i) investigate population structure and patterns of relationship of the germplasm for better exploitation in breeding programs; (ii) assess the usefulness of SNPs for identifying heterotic groups commonly used by CIMMYT breeding programs; and (iii) identify a subset of highly informative SNP markers for routine and low cost genotyping of CIMMYT germplasm in the region.