Study of genetic diversity and search for anthracnose resistance alleles in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) genotypes cultivated in Azerbaijan

Common bean has become very popular and widespread among the population since its introduction to Azerbaijan in the second half of the 18th century. The paper represents for the first time the genetic diversity and anthracnose resistance of 37 common bean accessions cultivated in Azerbaijan. ISSR marker characterization in the present study revealed a total of 47 bands, with 33.6% of average polymorphism. The polymorphism information content (PIC) and genetic diversity index (GDI) for each primer were in the range of 0.25-0.48 (mean 0.35) and 0.45-0.73 (mean 0.59), respectively, indicating a moderate level of genetic diversity in the current collection. UNJ tree showed that the common bean accessions tended to cluster according to the local and introduced gene pools, indicating the same original sources of these accessions, which is also supported by PCo analysis. Screening with linked SCAR markers revealed the existence of common bean genotypes with single or multiple Co resistance alleles. Among studied genes Co-4 locus and its alleles were found in all samples, followed by Co-6 (40.5%) and Co-34 (16%). Three genotypes had all studies resistance loci, while 12 had Co-4 and Co-6, and 3 had Co-4 and Co-34. The results could provide valuable information for future common bean breeding activities and conservation. The use of genotypes with two or more resistance genes as donor parents can accelerate the development of new common bean cultivars with durable resistance to anthracnose.