Abstract:
Doum palm (Hyphaene compressa) is a perennial economic plant primarily growing in
Kenya’s Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs). It is heavily relied upon for food, animal feed,
construction materials and medicine, making it an ideal plant for resource sustainability.
However, the limited information on its genetic resources has hindered its breeding and
conservation studies. This study used the genotyping by sequencing approach to identify
Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms. These SNPs were further used to assess the genetic
diversity and population structure of 96 H. compressa accessions from Coastal, Northern
and Eastern ASAL regions of Kenya using two approaches; reference-based and de novobased
assemblies. STRUCTURE analysis grouped the sampled accessions into two
genetic clusters (Cluster 1 and Cluster 2). Cluster 1 included accessions from the
Northern region, whereas Cluster 2 included all accessions from Eastern and Coastal
regions. Accessions from Kwale (Coastal) had mixed ancestry from both Cluster 1 and
Cluster 2. These STRUCTURE findings were further supported by principal components
analysis, discriminant analysis of principal components and phylogenetic analysis. Analysis
of molecular variance indicated greater genetic variation within populations (92.7%) than
among populations (7.3%). An overall FST of 0.074 was observed, signifying moderate
genetic differentiation among populations. The results of this study will provide information
useful in breeding, marker-assisted selection and conservation management of H.
compressa.
