X.Q. Huang · A. Börner · M.S. Röder · M.W. Ganal*
Institut für Pflanzengenetik und Kulturpflanzenforschung, Corrensstr. 3, D-06466 Gatersleben, Germany;
*Present address: TraitGenetics GmbH, Am Schwabenplan 1b, 06466 Gatersleben, Germany

      A dendrogram of 998 wheat accessions from the gene bank Gatersleben originating from 66 countries/regions was constructed using 24 microsatellite markers based on the genetic similarities (GS) coefficient matrix (Fig. 1). The GS were calculated for each pair of lines using the Dice similarity index. Cluster analysis was performed with the NTSYS-pc package based on the unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic average (UPGMA).

      All accessions could be distinguished. The genetic similarity coefficient for all accessions ranged from 0.15 to 0.96 and averaged 0.52 (Fig. 1). This indicated that relatively high genetic diversity exists in the wheat accessions from the Gatersleben gene bank. All 998 investigated accessions were hexaploid wheat. 70% of the accessions from the same geographical origin could be clustered in specific groups. The groups were found in Libya, Iran and Iraq, Nepal and Tibet, CSSR and Poland, Austria, and Italy and Spain, respectively. The accessions from Afghanistan, Hindukusch, Pakistan and Iran were distributed in one cluster. Significantly less genetic variation was detected in the germplasm collected from CSSR and Austria compared to the other groups. The dendrogram can provide the information about the genetic relationship among wheat accessions collected from the different countries/regions.

      Abbreviations of the countries/regions were as following: AFG = Afghanistan; ALB = Albania; ALG = Algeria; ARG = Argentina; AUA = Austria; AUL = Australia; AZE = Azerbaijan; BOL = Bolivia; BRA = Brazil; BUL = Bulgaria; CAI = Canary Islands; CHL = Chile; CHN = China; COL = Columbia; CRE = Crete; CRO = Croatia; CSSR = the former Czechoslovakia Republics; EGT = Egypt; ENG = England; EST = Estonia; ETH = Ethiopia; FIN = Finland; FRA = France; GEO = Georgia; GER = Germany; GRE = Greece; HDK = Hindukusch; HOL = Holland; HUN = Hungary; IND = India; IRN = Iran; IRQ = Iraq; ITA = Italy; JAP = Japan; JOR = Jordan; KAZ = Kazakhstan; KEN = Kenya; KOR = Korea; LIB = Libya; MEX = Mexico; MON = Mongolia; MOZ = Mozambique; NEP = Nepal; PAK = Pakistan; PAL = Palestine; PEL = Peloponnesos; POL = Poland; POR = Portugal; ROM = Romania; SAF = South Africa; SPA = Spain; SUD = Sudan; SWE = Sweden; SWI = Switzerland; SYR = Syria; TAJ = Tajikistan; TIB = Tibet; TUN = Tunisia; TUR = Turkey; USA = United States of America; UNK = unknown; URU = Uruguay; UDSSR = the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; UKR = Ukraine; YUG = Yugoslavia.

       For further information contact Dr. XQ Huang .