ORIGINAL PAPER Population Structure and Genetic Diversity of Common Bean Accessions from Brazil Giseli Valentini 1,2 & Maria Celeste Gonçalves-Vidigal 1 & Julio Cesar Ferreira Elias 1 & Leonel Domingos Moiana 3 & Noimilto Nicolau Augusto Mindo 4 Published online: 14 December 2018 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018 Abstract Brazil can be considered a secondary center of common bean diversification (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), and the landraces grown throughout Brazil are valuable sources of genes for breeding programs and evolutionary studies. The objective of this study was to evaluate the population structure of 109 accessions of common bean, including cultivars and landraces from southern and central-western regions of Brazil. The population structure analysis based on simple sequence repeat markers demonstrates that the accessions can be separated into two distinct subpopulations—the Andean and the Mesoamerican—with some admixtures observed according to Delta K = 2 groups. The optimal number of groups was found at K = 4, a level at which the Andean accessions were divided into two subpopulations and the Mesoamerican accessions into two subpopulations. Accordingly, the accessions preserved in the current collection maintained by the Universidade Estadual de Maringá are an important source of genes for germplasm conservation programs and the development of common bean cultivars. Keywords Phaseolus vulgaris L. . Accessions . Gene diversity . SSR markers Introduction Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is one of the most important legumes for direct human consumption; it is source of protein, fiber, iron, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals for millions of people in developed and underdeveloped coun- tries and is one of the basic foods for the populations of South America and eastern and southern Africa (Lin et al. 2008). Brazil, with a population of 191 million people, is one of the largest producers and consumers of common bean in the world (Blair et al. 2013). The combination of rice and bean, which is popular throughout the Brazilian territory, is a basic food for most of the population. Together, rice and bean pro- vide all essential amino acids for the human body (Barbosa 2010; Rezende et al. 2018). The diversity of common bean is structured in two major eco-geographically distinct gene pools. The large-seeded Andean cultivars were originally distributed throughout the South American countries of Peru, Chile, Bolivia, and Argentina, and the small to medium-seeded Mesoamerican cultivars comprise those distributed in Central America, from northern Mexico to Colombia (Singh et al. 1991). Following the initial domestication phase, cultivated common bean spread from Mesoamerica to South America and then to * Giseli Valentini giselivalentini@hotmail.com Maria Celeste Gonçalves-Vidigal mcgvidigal@gmail.com Julio Cesar Ferreira Elias juliocesar_net@hotmail.com Leonel Domingos Moiana leonel.moiana@gmail.com Noimilto Nicolau Augusto Mindo noimilto@gmail.com 1 Departamento de Agronomia, Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Av. Colombo 5790, Maringá, PR 87020-900, Brazil 2 Faculdade de Engenharias e Arquitetura, FEITEP, Av. Paranavaí 1164, Maringá, PR 87070-30, Brazil 3 Instituto de Investigação Agrária de Mozambique, Av. das FPLM, Km 7, Via Corrane, 662 Nampula, Mozambique 4 Associação Nacional de Extensão Rural (AENA), Rua dos continuadores, 723 Nampula, Mozambique Plant Molecular Biology Reporter (2018) 36:897–906 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11105-018-1129-4