Genetic diversity analysis and population structure of some African and Asian Finger Millet (Eleusine coracana L.) accessions using Expressed Sequence Tags – Simple Sequence Repeat (EST-SSR) markers

Finger millet is a high nutritious cereal compared to maize, wheat, rice and sorghum and adaptable to different abiotic and biotic stresses. Understanding the molecular basis of unique traits of finger millets, is key in harnessing its potential as a nutritional security crop among other important aspects. In this study some accession from Africa and Asia were used to research the genetic diversity and population structure of finger millet using EST-SSR Markers. Twenty four accessions of finger millet were tested for polymorphism and highly polymorphic bands were generated in 27 EST markers. A total of 46 alleles were amplified and ranged from 2 to 3 with average of 1.703 per primer pair. The observed heterozygosity value of EST-SSR markers (mean = 0.004) was from 0 to 0.125 and the range of expected heterozygosity value was from 0.16 to 0.582 (mean=0.233). The range of PIC values were from 0.077 to 0.477 and the average PIC value was 0.273.The genetic relationship was divided into three major groups, with accessions from Africa showing a high level of polymorphism and unique population structure compared to Asian ones. These results echos the need for strategic continued colaborative breeding and other crop research programmes between Africa and Asia. The results from futher molecular evaluation will serve as important information for better and efficient management of genetic resources of finger millet for; conservation, crop improvement and intellectual property protection rights purposes.