Genetic diversity of Panax ginseng cultivated in Japan and its relation with some plant characteristics

In East Asia, Panax ginseng is one of the most important medicinal plants and has been used in traditional medicines from ancient times. Today, P. ginseng is cultivated in Korea, China, and Japan. Although the genetic diversity of P. ginseng in Korea and China has been reported previously, that of P. ginseng cultivated in Japan is largely unknown. In the present study, genetic diversity of P. ginseng cultivated in Japan was analyzed using eight simple sequence repeat markers that have been used in other studies, and the results were compared with previous results for Korea and China. The correlation between genetic diversity and plant characteristics, such as ginsenoside contents, were also examined. The genetic diversity of P. ginseng in Japan was substantially different from that in Korea and China, probably due to Japan’s history of cultivation and the ginseng reproduction system of agamospermy. The genetic analysis indicated that P. ginseng cultivated in Japan could be classified into two clusters. The classification was related to the contents of ginsenosides Re and Ro in the main root but not to the cultivation region of the samples. These results may be useful for the cultivation and quality control of P. ginseng in Japan.