Genetic diversity and germplasm resource research on tung tree (Vernicia fordii) cultivars, investigated by inter-simple sequence repeats

Tung tree is an important woody oil-rich plant in the world. In order to determine the genetic diversity, germplasm resource and breeding method on tung tree, inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSR) was usedto investigate the cultivars in China. Among the total 110 bands amplified with 12 primers, 90 were polymorphic. The mean genetic similarity coefficient (Gs), the mean Nei’s gene diversity (h), and the mean Shannon’s information index (I) of tung cultivars were 0.8273, 0.1770 and 0.2453, respectively. Both UPGMA cluster and PCA showed clear genetic relationship among the 64 tung cultivars. The multilocus marker system also yielded useful strategies for germplasm collection and conservation of tung