Genetic diversity in natural populations of Stylosanthes scabra using ISSR markers J.C. Costa1, G.G.M. Fracetto2, F.J.C. Fracetto2, T.C. Souza3, M.V.F.6 Santos3 and M.A. Lira Júnior2 1Instituto Federal de Pernambuco, Vitória de Santo Antão, PE, Brasil 2Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Departamento de Agronomia, Recife, PE, Brasil 3Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Departamento de Zootecnia, Recife, PE, Brasil Corresponding Author: M.A. Lira Júnior E-mail:
[email protected] Genet. Mol. Res. 17 (1): gmr16039866 Received November 14, 2017 Accepted December 08, 2017 Published January 11, 2018 DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.4238/gmr16039866 Copyright © 2017 The Authors. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 License. ABSTRACT. Genetic diversity is the basis for genetic improvement, providing genes for new cultivars. Stylosanthes scabra is a legume used in pastures, presenting economic importance in tropical and subtropical regions. Molecular markers are targeted in population studies, thus we evaluated the genetic diversity distribution of S. scabra in Brazilian semi-arid northeastern among and within populations, from molecular markers ISSR. Four natural populations of S. scabra located in the municipalities of Santa Cruz do Capibaribe, Floresta, Sertânia and Petrolina from Pernambuco state were used. We selected seven ISSR primers for amplification and analyzed 75 individuals. A total of 88 bands were amplified with a percentage of 95.27% polymorphism at the species level. AMOVA test revealed that 40.0% of the total genetic variation is within populations while 60.0% among populations.