Background : Yellowhorn (Xanthoceras sorbifolium Bunge) is distributed in northeastern region in China. The seeds are oil-rich and used as an edible and/or medicinal additives in China. We investigated genetic indices and molecular variance using ISSR markers and oil contents variance by analyzing fatty acid composition in several artificial populations in China. Methods and Results : Seeds were collected from four discontiguous artificial populations in four area in China : two in Inner Mongolia (IM), one in Liaoning (LN) and one in Shandong (SD). Farm in SD showed the highest number of effective alleles (Ne), Shannon index (I), and expected heterozygosity (He), i.e., 1.598, 0.470, and 0.325, respectively. Crude fat contents in kernel observed as 54.5 g 100 g-1 from SD. In contrast it was observed the lowest contents as 46.5 g 100 g-1 from LN . The fatty acid composition was determined to those of oleic acid (31.3%) from SD. And linoleic acid was determined as 38.1% from LN. These artificial populations have relatively high genetic variation, and within-population variation (23%) was higher than among populations. The artificial populations were divided into two groups, revealing these was little correlation between genetic and geographic distance. Conclusion : This study can provide the important information on genetic variation and contents characteristics. It may be responsible for the programs of improvement and germplasm conservation in the future.

• Chanhoon An(Forest Medicinal Resources Research Center, National Institute of Forest Science) | 안찬훈 Corresponding author
• Jeongho Song(Forest Medicinal Resources Research Center, National Institute of Forest Science) | 송정호