Genetic diversity and relationship of Hunan province of China local tree peonies based on SSR markers

Paeonia sect. Moutan is a wide known ornamental plant in the world. The objective of this study was to provide the theoretical basis for scientific preservation and utilization of tree peony resources of Hunan province of China. Simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers were applied to reveal the genetic diversity and relationship of 21 tree peony resources and 45 domestic and foreign tree peony cultivars. Clear bands, the size of which ranged from 115 bp to 379 bp, were detected with 14 primers. In total, 90 alleles were detected and the number of alleles detected with one primer varied between 5 and 13; the number of effective alleles ranged from 1.183 to 2.070; the polymorphism ratio of each locus was 100%. The observed heterozygosity, which ranged from 0.120 to 0.851 with an average of 0.532, was larger than the expected one, which ranged from 0.090 to 0.470 with an average of 0.300. Shannon index ranged from 0.137 to 0.695 and fixation index ranged from −0.332 to −0.869. The results show abundant genetic diversity in tree peony of Hunan province and SSR markers distinguishing homonymous tree peony resources successfully.