Evaluation of Population Structure in Some Bread and Durum Wheat Genotypes Using SNP Markers and PCA and DAPC Methods

Evaluating the population structure is essential for understanding diversity patterns, choosing proper parents for crossing, accurate identification of genomic regions controlling traits, and evolutionary and kinship relationship studies. In this research, the genetic structure of a wheat population was studied in a panel consisting of 383 Iranian wheat genotypes of hexaploid (cultivars and landraces) and tetraploid species based on distance-based methods (principal component analysis and discriminant analysis of principal component). For this purpose, 16270 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers obtained by the GBS technique were used. According to the results, almost a quarter of the total variance was belonged to the diversity between populations, and the Fst coefficient between cultivars and landraces was equal to 0.15. In contrast, the above coefficient between tetraploid samples and hexaploid landraces was high and equal to 0.44. Genome D had the lowest value of Fst index and chromosome 4B showed the highest Fst coefficient, and other genetic diversity indices. Although the PCA biplot distinguished hexaploid wheat cultivars from landraces, it was unable to distinctly separate tetraploid genotypes from other genotypes. Accurate evaluation of the population structure with the DAPC method was able to identify and separate the predetermined successfully groups, suggesting that the DAPC approach maximizes the differentiation between groups and minimizes the changes within the group. Partial admixture between cultivars and landraces of hexaploid wheat can be related to gene exchange between these two groups or perhaps their wrong labeling at the time of collection. In general, the results of this study provided valuable information about the genetic differentiation of Iranian tetraploid and hexaploid wheat, which can be used in future wheat breeding programs. Further, protecting these genotypes in gene banks is necessary for different strategies.