Assessment of genetic diversity and relationships among Triticum urartu and Triticum boeoticum populations from Iran using IRAP and REMAP markers

Abstract

Einkorn wheat is known as the donor of ‘A’ genome to cultivated wheat and source of many important genes. Therefore, genetic erosion in cultivated wheat provides a good reason to investigate genetic diversity in these species. In the present study, genetic diversity of 14 populations of Triticum urartu and Triticum boeoticum collected from west and north-west of Iran was examined by IRAP and REMAP markers. In total, 26 out of 36 IRAP and 41 out of 88 REMAP combinations amplified polymorphic and scorable banding patterns. IRAP and REMAP combinations produced 6.53 and 5.21 polymorphic bands per assay, respectively. Mean of polymorphism information content for IRAPs and REMAPs were 0.38 and 0.40 and marker index values for them were 2.60 and 2.09, respectively. Analysis of molecular variance based on IRAP and REMAP data revealed significant within and among population variances, although within population variance was higher than that of among population. Primer combinations based on Sukkula and Nikita retrotransposons produced the highest number of markers in the whole population. Cluster and principal coordinate analyses using REMAP data grouped the populations based on the species and geographical origin, but grouping based on IRAP could not separate the two species. However, based on both marker systems considerable diversity was observed among and within the studied populations.