Sequence Polymorphisms and Phylogenetic Relationships of hina Gene in Wild Barley from Tibet, China

The hina gene encodes a HINA protein in seeds of barley (Hordeum vulgare), which was known to affect the grainhardness. 171 hina gene sequences from Tibetan wild barley accessions and worldwide were characterized. Across 1 452nucleotides of 171 hina genes, 152 SNPs were detected, giving an average frequency of one SNP per 9.5 bases. There were93 singleton variable sites (the nucleotide polymorphism only observed in a single accession), 59 polymorphic sites (thepolymorphisms found in two or more accessions) and 8 indels. A total of 18 haplotypes were defined, and most of thebarley accessions shared one gene haplotype. H. spontaneum had a wider haplotype distribution. Through the analysisof median-joining network of the 18 haplotypes, 4 haplotype groups were found, which were testified by neighbor-joiningtree based on the complete sequence alignment. Extremely low level of hina gene diversity was observed in Tibetan wildbarley accessions, indicating that Tibet is unlikely a center of origin for cultivated barley.