Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) is an important oilseed crop grown in tropical and subtropical areas. The objective of this study was to investigate the genetic relationships among 129 sesame landraces and cultivars using simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Out of 70 SSRs, 23 were found to be informative and produced 157 alleles. The number of alleles per locus ranged from 3 – 14, whereas polymorphic information content ranged from 0.33 – 0.86. A distance-based phylogenetic analysis revealed two major and six minor clusters. The population structure analysis using a Bayesian model-based program in STRUCTURE 2.3.4 divided 129 sesame accessions into three major populations (K = 3). Based on pairwise comparison estimates, Pop1 was observed to be genetically close to Pop2 with FST value of 0.15, while Pop2 and Pop3 were genetically closest with FST value of 0.08. Analysis of molecular variance revealed a high percentage of variability among individuals within populations (85.84%) than among the populations (14.16%). Similarly, a high variance was observed among the individuals within the country of origins (90.45%) than between the countries of origins. The grouping of genotypes in clusters was not related to their geographic origin indicating considerable gene flow among sesame genotypes across the selected geographic regions. The SSR markers used in the present study were able to distinguish closely linked sesame genotypes, thereby showing their usefulness in assessing the potentially important source of genetic variation. These markers can be used for future sesame varietal classification, conservation, and other breeding purposes.
