Geographical genetic diversity and divergence of common wild rice (O. rufipogon Griff.) in China

Using 36 SSR markers and 889 accessions of common wild rice in China, the genetic diversity and the divergence among different geographical populations are investigated. Guangdong Province has the largest number of alleles, which account for 84% of the total alleles detected in the study, followed by Guangxi Province. The Nei's gene diversity indices, from high to low, are in the sequence of Hainan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Hunan, Jiangxi, and Yunnan provinces. Two genetic diversity centers of Chinese common wild rice are detected on the basis of geographic analysis, i.e., the region covering Boluo, Zijin, Lufeng, Haifeng, Huidong and Huiyang counties of Guangdong Province and the region covering Yongning, Longan, Laibin and Guigang counties of Guangxi Province. The common wild rice in Yunnan, Hunan, Jiangxi, and Fujian provinces are diverged into respectively independent populations with relatively large genetic distances, whereas, those in Hainan, Guangdong and Guangxi provinces have relatively low genetic divergence. Under the condition of geographic separation, natural selection is considered as one of the primary forces contributing to the divergence of common wild rice in China.