Abstract: 【Objective】Genetic assessment, i.e. gene diversity and population structure, of representative accessions is of great importance in the utilization of these germplasm, allele mining, and analysis of association mapping. 【Method】Forty core SSRs developed for the fingerprinting and uniformity analysis of Chinese maize varieties, covered the entire maize genome, were used to genomic scanning of a total set of 820 maize inbred lines across China by the genotyping technology based on fluorescence sequencing. The genetic diversity of these inbred lines was performed via the software PowerMarker V3.25, and the population structure of these materials was revealed by Structure V2.3.3. 【Result】Among 40 SSRs, the No. of alleles of these 820 inbred lines averaged 36.87, ranging from 10 to 72, the gene diversity averaged 0.8430, ranging from 0.46 to 0.9458, and the PIC averaged 0.83, ranging from 0.43 to 0.94. Result from the clustering analysis based on a model-based method indicated that these 820 assays could be divided into 5 groups, including Lancaster, Lüda red cob (LRC), Tang si ping tou (TSPT), Reid (PA and BSSS), and P group (or PB). The corresponding average allele no. per locus of these 5 groups was 24.23, 22, 11.8, 17.45, and 14.65, and the gene diversity was 0.8145, 0.8398, 0.7054, 0.7686, and 0.7495, respectively. 【Conclusion】Results revealed by the core SSRs showed a relatively higher abundant genetic variation and a rather high level of gene diversity, while significant difference existed among 5 groups. Diversity level of Lancaster and LRC was statistically higher than that of Reid, TSPT, and P, and groups of TSPT and P possessed relatively lower genetic diversity.

Key words: maize (Zea mays L.), inbred line, gene diversity, population structure