Plant materials
The 33 standard flue-cured tobacco varieties (Table 2) commonly used in DUS testing were provided by the National Crop Germplasm Resources Infrastructure (NCGRI; Tobacco, Qingdao).
SSR markers
A total of 270 polymorphic SSR markers were selected from a previous study [23], [43].
DNA extraction
DNA extraction of 33 varieties was carried out with the following steps. Firstly, one hundred milligrams of the fresh leaves were ground in liquid nitrogen, and placed in a 2-mL EP tube. Secondly, 800 µL of SLS extracting solution (0.1 mol/L Tris-HCl, 0.2 mol/L EDTA, 0.1 mol/L NaCl, 10 g/L Sodium Lauroyl Sareosine, pH 8.0) was added, and the tube was shaken for 5 min. Thirdly, 800 µL of an isometric phenol: chloroform: isoamyl alcohol (25: 24: 1) mixture was added, followed by shaking for 5 min, and centrifugation at 12000 rpm for 10 min. Fourthly, 600 µL of the supernatant was transferred to a new 1.5-ml centrifuge tube and isometric precooled isopropyl alcohol (-20 °C) was added for DNA precipitation. Next, the sample was centrifuged at 12000 rpm for 10 min, and the supernatant was removed, followed by a wash with 75% ethyl alcohol and a rinse with pure alcohol. Lastly, the sample was dried on a sterile bench for 30 to 60 min until no alcohol residue remained, and the sample was suspended in 100–200 µL of ddH2O.
Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification and electrophoresis
PCR amplification and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis were conducted following the methods reported in previous studies [23], [43]. NaOH silver staining [44] was used for dyeing and developing the polyacrylamide gels.
Data analysis
The amplified SSR band patterns were recorded in Excel 2013 (Microsoft Corp., Redmond, USA) using a binary (0-1) data format. The data were then converted by DataFormater [45] into input files for PowerMarker v. 3.25 [46], NtSys v. 2.10e [47], and Popgene v. 1.32 [48]. The average PIC was calculated using PowerMarker v. 3.25. Both H and I were calculated using PopGene v. 1.32. NtSys v. 2.10e was used to calculate genetic distances and to draw the UPGMA clustering tree. The software SPSS v. 22 [49] was used to generate boxplots and scatter plots and to perform correlation analysis. The random sampling of 1-90 markers was repeated 50 times for each marker number and the average PIC values were calculated. A Python (2.7) script was used for the random sampling experiment and for the statistical analysis of PIC values variation between samples. Other data analyses and the illustration of genetic fingerprints were carried out in Excel 2013.
Plant materials
The 33 standard flue-cured tobacco varieties (Table 2) commonly used in DUS testing were provided by the National Crop Germplasm Resources Infrastructure (NCGRI; Tobacco, Qingdao).
SSR markers
A total of 270 polymorphic SSR markers were selected from a previous study [23], [43].
DNA extraction
DNA extraction of 33 varieties was carried out with the following steps. Firstly, one hundred milligrams of the fresh leaves were ground in liquid nitrogen, and placed in a 2-mL EP tube. Secondly, 800 µL of SLS extracting solution (0.1 mol/L Tris-HCl, 0.2 mol/L EDTA, 0.1 mol/L NaCl, 10 g/L Sodium Lauroyl Sareosine, pH 8.0) was added, and the tube was shaken for 5 min. Thirdly, 800 µL of an isometric phenol: chloroform: isoamyl alcohol (25: 24: 1) mixture was added, followed by shaking for 5 min, and centrifugation at 12000 rpm for 10 min. Fourthly, 600 µL of the supernatant was transferred to a new 1.5-ml centrifuge tube and isometric precooled isopropyl alcohol (-20 °C) was added for DNA precipitation. Next, the sample was centrifuged at 12000 rpm for 10 min, and the supernatant was removed, followed by a wash with 75% ethyl alcohol and a rinse with pure alcohol. Lastly, the sample was dried on a sterile bench for 30 to 60 min until no alcohol residue remained, and the sample was suspended in 100–200 µL of ddH2O.
Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification and electrophoresis
PCR amplification and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis were conducted following the methods reported in previous studies [23], [43]. NaOH silver staining [44] was used for dyeing and developing the polyacrylamide gels.
Data analysis
The amplified SSR band patterns were recorded in Excel 2013 (Microsoft Corp., Redmond, USA) using a binary (0-1) data format. The data were then converted by DataFormater [45] into input files for PowerMarker v. 3.25 [46], NtSys v. 2.10e [47], and Popgene v. 1.32 [48]. The average PIC was calculated using PowerMarker v. 3.25. Both H and I were calculated using PopGene v. 1.32. NtSys v. 2.10e was used to calculate genetic distances and to draw the UPGMA clustering tree. The software SPSS v. 22 [49] was used to generate boxplots and scatter plots and to perform correlation analysis. The random sampling of 1-90 markers was repeated 50 times for each marker number and the average PIC values were calculated. A Python (2.7) script was used for the random sampling experiment and for the statistical analysis of PIC values variation between samples. Other data analyses and the illustration of genetic fingerprints were carried out in Excel 2013.