Genetic diversity of common bean accessions from former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia as revealed by molecular and morphological markers

Cultivation of common bean has a long tradition in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and is still nowadays important part of the human diet. In a study reported here 71 accessions from the FYROM were assessed for genetic diversity with the aim to provide information on genetic structure of Macedonian common bean germplasm and to depict its peculiarities. A total of 71 accessions were assessed using 13 microsatellite and 16 morphological markers. The average number of alleles per microsatellite was 5.8, and ranged from three to 16 alleles. High capacity of selected markers for distinguishing genotypes was identified by the calculation of a very low value of probability of identity. The relationship among 71 studied accessions was assessed by hierarchical cluster analysis. A very clear separation of accessions into two groups was observed in the UPGMA dendrogram. The larger represented Andean gene pool and contained 40 accessions (56% of total), while the other 31 accessions (44% of total) composed Mesoamerican gene pool. The two groups were successfully discriminated by eight morphological traits. Within the larger Andean cluster in the UPGMA dendrogram a sub-group of 16 climbing accessions was separated from 24 bush accessions. The absence of the string in the pods of the climbers suggests that this sub-group comprises snap beans grown primarily for their fresh pods. There were eight morphological traits in total that distinguished the two Andean sub-groups. Assessment of genetic relationship among accessions, their classification into respective gene pool and identification of morphological peculiarities provided valuable information for the management of plant gene bank and Macedonian bean breeding program