| Summary: | The use of molecular markers based on DNA sequences may be a promising strategy for assessing DNA-level genetic diversity in samples of wild poinsettia populations. Inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers were used to assess the population structure and genetic diversity of 10 wild poinsettia populations sampled from soybean fields. A total of 133 DNA segments were amplified with nine ISSR primers, with an average of 14.77 amplicons per primer. ISSR markers showed high genetic polymorphism (98%) and divergence (Gst = 0.3607) among subpopulations. This study’s results suggest that founding and bottleneck effects, as well as different selection pressures, adopted in wild poinsettia control selected different biotypes in each subpopulation and may have caused highly structured populations within species. This analysis of wild poinsettia at the DNA level was important to identify subpopulations with the highest and lowest genetic diversity and to underscore the need for different strategies to control populations in each infested field. Furthermore, ISSR markers may help to monitor the infestation dynamics of each cropping field.
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