Boutsika Anastasia, Deligiannidou Eleftheria, Moysiadis Theodoros, Tourvas Nikolaos, Karnoutsos Panagiotis, Karagiovanidis Marios, Magalios Dimitrios, Nanos Christos, Mitsis Vangelis, Tsaliki Eleni, Sarrou Eirini, Kalivas Apostolos, Ganopoulos Ioannis
ELGO DIMITRA, Institute of Plant Breeding and Genetic Resources, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Department of Computer Science, School of Sciences and Engineering, University of Nicosia, Nicosia, Cyprus.
PeerJ. 2025 Aug 8;13:e19770. doi: 10.7717/peerj.19770. eCollection 2025.
L., a versatile plant grown for its seeds, fiber, and cannabinoids, has recently received significant scientific interest due to its wide range of industrial and pharmaceutical uses and economic prospects. The objective of this study is to assess the genetic variation of cannabis by examining its morphological and molecular characteristics in 83 different genotypes preserved at the Institute of Plant Breeding and Genetic Resources in Thessaloniki. Utilizing 10 microsatellite markers, important genetic variation was observed among the samples. Population structure analysis using STRUCTURE software indicated four distinct genetic subpopulations, which were further supported by the principal coordinate analysis (PCoA). The validity of these clusters was further confirmed through unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) phylogenetic analysis. The analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) indicated that most of the genetic variation is present within individuals rather than among them or among populations (9% among populations, 53% within individuals). The expected heterozygosity (He or uHe) turned out to be 0.60-0.66, which supports moderate diversity. The fixation indices (Fst = 0.094, Fis = 0.417, Fit = 0.472) were statistically significant and suggested a moderate level of genetic differentiation between the two populations. Nei's genetic distance between hemp and marijuana groups was calculated as D = 0.288, indicating a moderate level of genome-wide divergence between these two major use types. Additionally, high-resolution melting (HRM) analysis utilizing sex-linked markers successfully identified 73 female and 10 male plants, underscoring the value of early sex identification in enhancing breeding strategies. These findings contribute valuable insights into the genetic diversity and sex determination mechanisms of and support future breeding programs which aim at developing cultivars with favorable traits.
大麻是一种用途广泛的植物，因其种子、纤维和大麻素而被种植，由于其广泛的工业和药用用途以及经济前景，最近受到了科学界的极大关注。本研究的目的是通过检测保存在塞萨洛尼基植物育种和遗传资源研究所的83种不同基因型大麻的形态和分子特征，评估其遗传变异。利用10个微卫星标记，在样本中观察到了重要的遗传变异。使用STRUCTURE软件进行的群体结构分析表明存在四个不同的遗传亚群，主坐标分析（PCoA）进一步支持了这一结果。通过算术平均非加权对组法（UPGMA）系统发育分析进一步证实了这些聚类的有效性。分子方差分析（AMOVA）表明，大多数遗传变异存在于个体内部，而非个体之间或群体之间（群体间9%，个体内53%）。预期杂合度（He或uHe）为0.60 - 0.66，这支持了中等程度的多样性。固定指数（Fst = 0.094，Fis = 0.417，Fit = 0.472）具有统计学意义，表明两个群体之间存在中等程度的遗传分化。大麻和大麻毒品组之间的内氏遗传距离计算为D = 0.288，表明这两种主要用途类型之间存在中等程度的全基因组差异。此外，利用性别连锁标记的高分辨率熔解（HRM）分析成功鉴定出73株雌株和10株雄株，强调了早期性别鉴定在改进育种策略中的价值。这些发现为大麻的遗传多样性和性别决定机制提供了有价值的见解，并支持未来旨在培育具有优良性状品种的育种计划。
