Genetic Diversity Among Wheat Cultivars Using Molecular Markers

Abstract

The objective of this study was to compare amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP), random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), and DNA amplification fingerprinting (DAF) marker systems for estimating genetic diversity among 13 Iranian wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars through average expected heterozygosity (H_av), sum of effective number of alleles (SENA), and marker index (MI). The AFLP markers had the highest values for these parameters. Correlations of RAPD marker data with those obtained using AFLP markers were higher than those obtained using DAF. Mantel correspondence test did not show significant correlations among dendrograms obtained from the three assays. Because of the large size of the wheat genome, different assays detect polymorphism in different genomic regions. The averages of similarities based on Jaccard's coefficient were high for the three assays. We concluded that AFLP markers showed the highest efficiency in estimating genetic diversity in bread wheat germplasm. High level of genetic similarities among Iranian agronomically important bread-wheat cultivars make it necessary to broaden the genetic base of Iranian wheat germplasm.

Keywords:

• AFLP
• RAPD
• DAF
• bread wheat
• genetic diversity
• marker index

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully thank Urmia University for financial support of this research.