Double‐digest restriction‐associated DNA sequencing‐based genotyping and its applications in sesame germplasm management

Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) is an ancient oilseed crop belonging to the family Pedaliaceae and a globally cultivated crop for its use as oil and food. In this study, 2496 sesame accessions, being conserved at the National Genebank of ICAR‐National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), were genotyped using genomics‐assisted double‐digest restriction‐associated DNA sequencing (ddRAD‐seq) approach. A total of 64,910 filtered single‐nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were utilized to assess the genome‐scale diversity. Applications of this genome‐scale information (reduced representation using restriction enzymes) are demonstrated through the development of a molecular core collection (CC) representing maximal SNP diversity. This information is also applied in developing a mid‐density panel (MDP) comprising 2515 hyper‐variable SNPs, representing almost equally the genic and non‐genic regions. The sesame CC comprising 384 accessions, a representative set of accessions with maximal diversity, was identified using multiple criteria such as k‐mer (subsequence of length “k” in a sequence read) diversity, observed heterozygosity, CoreHunter3, GenoCore, and genetic differentiation. The coreset constituted around 15% of the total accessions studied, and this small subset had captured >60% SNP diversity of the entire population. In the coreset, the admixture analysis shows reduced genetic complexity, increased nucleotide diversity (π), and is geographically distributed without any repetitiveness in the CC germplasm. Within the CC, India‐originated accessions exhibit higher diversity (as expected based on the center of diversity concept), than those accessions that were procured from various other countries. The identified CC set and the MDP will be a valuable resource for genomics‐assisted accelerated sesame improvement program.