Effect of selection on genetic variability in yellow passion fruit

The objective of this study was to evaluate the genetic diversity in improved (IG) and unimproved germplasm (UIG) of yellow passion fruit (Passiflora edulis Sims f. flavicarpa Deg), based on ISSR (Inter Simple Sequence Repeat) markers. The genotypes were grouped by neighbor joining clustering and principal component analysis. Regardless of the genotype, a high number of polymorphic bands was observed, aside from several specific fragments of the groups, according to the level of improvement. Unimproved genotypes had a higher number of polymorphic fragments. The hierarchical and principal component clustering coincided in the formation of two rather distinct groups (IG and UIG). The molecular analysis of variance to check the differentiation between groups showed 57 and 43% of the variation within and between groups, respectively. This study demonstrated the potential of ISSR to determine molecular polymorphism in yellow passion fruit and that breeding has narrowed the genetic variability.