Author(s)

Rose Fernande Fagbédji¹, Lambert Gustave Djedatin^1,2*, Chimène Nanoukon¹, Geofroy Kinhoegbe¹, Amed Havivi¹, Hounnankpon Yédomonhan³, Clément Agbangla⁴

¹Laboratoire de Biologie Moléculaire et de Bioinformatique Appliquée à la Génomique (BIOGENOM), ENSBBA de Dassa-Zoumé, Université Nationale des Sciences, Technologies, Ingénierie et Mathématiques (UNSTIM), Abomey, Benin.
²Ecole Normale Supérieure de l’Enseignement Technique (ENSET) de Lokossa, Université Nationale des Sciences, Technologies, Ingénierie et Mathématiques (UNSTIM), Abomey, Benin.
³Laboratoire de Botanique et Ecologie Végétale, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques (FAST), Université d’Abomey-Calavi (UAC), Abomey-Calavi, Benin.
⁴Département de Génétique et des Biotechnologies, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques (FAST), Université d’Abomey-Calavi, Abomey-Calavi, Benin.

Lima bean is a tropical and subtropical legume from the genus Phaseolus which is cultivated for its importance in food and in medicine, but which remains a Neglected and Underutilized Crop in Benin. Understanding the genetic diversity of a species’ genetic resources is useful for the establishment of appropriate conservation strategies and breeding programs and for sustainable use. We use 6 out of ten SSR markers to analyze the diversity and population structure of 28 Lima bean landraces collected in Benin. A total of 28 alleles with an average of 4.16 alleles per SSR were amplified. The Polymorphic Information Content value ranged from 0.079 to 0.680 with an average of 0.408. The analysis of population structure revealed three subpopulations. PCoA revealed three well-separated clusters among the analyzed accessions in accordance with the population structure results and the clustering based on the Neighbor-Joining tree. AMOVA showed highly significant (p = 0.001) diversity among and within populations. Hence, 32% of the genetic variation was distributed among the population and 68% was distributed within populations. A high PhiP value (0.321) was found between the three sub-subpopulations indicating a high genetic differentiation between these sub-subpopulations. By exhibiting the highest average number of alleles, Shannon-Weaver information and Shannon-Weaver diversity indices, and the highest mean number of private alleles, subpopulation 1 is the main gene pool of the analyzed collection. The present study is an important starting point for the establishment of appropriate conservation strategies and breeding programs for Lima bean genetic resources.

Phaseolus lunatus L., Benin, Genetic Diversity, SSR Markets, Conservation

Fagbédji, R. , Djedatin, L. , Nanoukon, C. , Kinhoegbe, G. , Havivi, A. , Yédomonhan, H. and Agbangla, C. (2023) Insight into Genetic Diversity of Cultivated Lima Bean (Phaseolus lunatus L.) in Benin. American Journal of Molecular Biology, 13, 32-45. doi: 10.4236/ajmb.2023.131003.