Abstract：ABSTRACT: Azuki bean [Vigna angularis (Willd.) Ohwi & Ohashi] is an important legume crop grown for its protein rich grains. Firstly, 45 microsatellite DNA markers were used to amplify genomic DNAs from 80 accessions of azuki bean, including 53 accessions of Chinese azuki bean and 27 accessions of Japanese azuki bean in this work. As a result, 18 pairs of SSR primers could amplify polymorphic single-locus SSR from all of these materials, and these polymorphic markers were then used to analyze genetic diversity of azuki bean. A total of 92 alleles was detected, among them 89 and 74 alleles were detected in 57 accessions of Chinese azuki bean and 27 accessions of Japanese azuki bean respectively. The average number of alleles per locus was 5.4 for all the accessions, 4.9 for Chinese azuki bean, and 4.1 for Japanese azuki bean. The polymorphic information content (PIC) of each SSR locus varied from 0.23 to 0.83 with an average of 0.64 in all the accessions, from 0.23 to 0.86 with an average of 0.63 in the Chinese azuki bean, and from 0.20 to 0.81 with an average of 0.61 in the Japanese azuki bean. Genetic differences between the Chinese and Japanese azuki bean were detected for specific alleles, PIC and pairwise genetic similarity. UPGMA cluster analysis of the similarity data basically separates the eighty accessions into five groups. A dendrogram based on the microsatellite analysis generally agreed with the pedigree of the azuki bean accessions. These results indicated that Chinese and Japanese azuki bean germplasm could be used for broadening genetic base of current cultivars, and the SSR markers should be useful for genetic mapping, genotype identification, and marker-assisted selection of azuki bean.
