Heterozygosities and genetic relationship of tea cultivars revealed by simple sequence repeat markers and implications for breeding and genetic mapping programs
Genetic maps are essential tools for quantitative trait locus analysis and marker-assisted selection breeding. In order to select parents that are highly heterozygous for genetic mapping, the heterozygosity (HS) of 24 tea cultivars (Camellia sinensis) was analyzed with 72 simple sequence repeat markers. In total, 359 alleles were obtained with an average of 4.99 per marker. The HS varied greatly from 37.5 to 71.0% with an average of 51.3%.