Melon diversity on the Silk Road by molecular phylogenetic analysis in Kazakhstan melons

Katsunori Tanaka; Mitsuhiro Sugiyama; Gentaro Shigita; Ryoma Murakami; Thanh-Thuy Duong; Yasheng Aierken; Anna M Artemyeva; Zharas Mamypbelov; Ryuji Ishikawa; Hidetaka Nishida; Kenji Kato

doi:10.1270/jsbbs.22030

Melon diversity on the Silk Road by molecular phylogenetic analysis in Kazakhstan melons

Breed Sci. 2023 Apr;73(2):219-229. doi: 10.1270/jsbbs.22030. Epub 2023 Apr 25.

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Agriculture and Life Science, Hirosaki University, 3 Bunkyo, Hirosaki, Aomori 036-8561, Japan.
² Institute of Vegetable and Floriculture Science, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), 360 Kusawa, Ano, Tsu, Mie 514-2392, Japan.
³ Graduate School of Environmental and Life Science, Okayama University, 1-1-1 Tsushima Naka, Kita-ku, Okayama, Okayama 700-8530, Japan.
⁴ Faculty of Agronomy, University of Agriculture and Forestry, Hue University, 102 Phung Hung Street, Hue City, Vietnam.
⁵ Center for Hami Melon, Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Urumqi 830091, China.
⁶ All-Russian Institute of Plant Genetic Resources on the name of N.I.Vavilov (VIR), 42-44 Bolshaya Morskaya Street, Saint Petersburg 190000, Russian Federation.
⁷ Kazakhstan Research Institute of Potato and Vegetable Growing LLC, 1 Nauryz Street, Karasay, Almaty 040917, Kazakhstan.

Abstract

To uncover population structure, phylogenetic relationship, and diversity in melons along the famous Silk Road, a seed size measurement and a phylogenetic analysis using five chloroplast genome markers, 17 RAPD markers and 11 SSR markers were conducted for 87 Kazakh melon accessions with reference accessions. Kazakh melon accessions had large seed with exception of two accessions of weedy melon, Group Agrestis, and consisted of three cytoplasm types, of which Ib-1/-2 and Ib-3 were dominant in Kazakhstan and nearby areas such as northwestern China, Central Asia and Russia. Molecular phylogeny showed that two unique genetic groups, ^STIa-2 with Ib-1/-2 cytoplasm and ^STIa-1 with Ib-3 cytoplasm, and one admixed group, ^STI_AD combined with ^STIa and ^STIb, were prevalent across all Kazakh melon groups. ^STI_AD melons that phylogenetically overlapped with ^STIa-1 and ^STIa-2 melons were frequent in the eastern Silk Road region, including Kazakhstan. Evidently, a small population contributed to melon development and variation in the eastern Silk Road. Conscious preservation of fruit traits specific to Kazakh melon groups is thought to play a role in the conservation of Kazakh melon genetic variation during melon production, where hybrid progenies were generated through open pollination.

Keywords: Central Asia; Cucumis melo; diversity; genetic resources; on-farm conservation.