Abstract
Pakistan is blessed with a wide range of indigenous mango germplasm. Wild mango genotypes, growing at Azad Jammu and
Kashmir (AJK) and its vicinity are valuable resource for unique genetic diversity. The DNA fingerprints of this available
germplasm have never been worked out. Hence, the aim of this study was to develop DNA profiles of 31 wild and 13 cultivated
genotypes of the country to determine the population structure. Number of alleles per locus of the 51 Simple sequence repeat
(SSR) markers ranged from 3 to 9 and a total of 296 alleles with an average of 5.80 alleles per locus. The average polymorphism
information content value was 0.764. The expected and observed heterozygosity values were 0.805 and 0.720, respectively,
which exhibited high level of genetic diversity in the wild and cultivated mango germplasm. The Bayesian cluster, principal
coordinate and hierarchical clustering analyses divided the collected genotypes into three groups i.e. A, B and C. Members of
group A and B consisted of wild genotypes entirely, while all commercial genotypes were clustered in group C. The obtained
results highlighted genetic diversity encompassed by wild mango genotypes of AJK which can be considered as distinct
genotypes for further evaluations in the framework of breeding programs and new cultivar identification in mango.
