Evaluation of Germplasm Using SSR Markers of Functional Genes in Rice

16 SSR (Simple sequence repeats) primers of functional genes in rice were used to detect genetic diversity among 23 accessions of rice germplasm from 5 countries in the world. The average number of alleles per SSR locus was 5.2 with a range from 2 to 10. Genetic similarities among the 23 rice accessions ranged from 0.13 to 0.64. UPGMA cluster analysis showed that the 23 rice accessions could be classified into two distinct classes at similarities with a coefficient of 0.13. The Japonicas from Brazil, Japan and China were classified into Class I, along with upland rice from Brazil. The Indicas from Pakistan and Korea were classified into Class Ⅱ. Consequently, the function of genes SSR markers could be used as a useful tool for measuring genetic diversity, assigning rice to geographical distribution, ecotype, and pedigree relationship.