Genetic diversity and population structure in Jatropha ( Jatropha curcas L.) based on molecular markers

Jatropha ( Jatropha curcas L.) is an oleaginous potential, howetever, some studies report that there is low genetic diversity in Brazilian genotypes. Estimating genetic diversity are the essential factors to ensure success in the management of genetic resources, planning and adoption of strategies for genetic breeding. The hypothesis of our study is: do Brazilian Jatropha breeding populations have sufficient genetic variability to select individuals within? The objective of this paper is to determine the genetic diversity of 573 genotypes of five populations of Jatropha curcas structured based on the characteristics of yield, resistance to powdery mildew and toxicity, using Single-nucleotide polymorphism molecular markers. The results shows moderate variability among the genotypes analyzed, confirming the initial hypothesis of this study. We recommended using a greater number of individuals per family rather than the number of families in breeding programs in order to exploit the greater variability within populations and hence obtain higher gains with selection.