Assessment of Genetic Diversity of Moroccan Cultivated Almond (&amp;lt;i&amp;gt;Prunus dulcis&amp;lt;/i&amp;gt; Mill. DA Webb) in Its Area of Extreme Diffusion, Using Nuclear Microsatellites

Abdelali Elhamzaoui,Jamal Charafi,Ahmed Oukabli,Mohiéddine Moumni

doi:10.4236/ajps.2012.39156

Abstract

Assessment of genetic diversity of Moroccan cultivated almond (Prunus dulcis Mill.) grown from seed and cultivated at four eco-geographical regions was performed using 16 nuclear SSRs. 238 alleles were detected with an average of 14.88 alleles per locus, ranging from 4 (locus BPPCT027) to 24 (locus CPSCT018). The size of alleles ranged from 84 bp (locus UDP96-003) to 253 bp (locus UDP96-018). A high genetic diversity of the local almonds is apparent and structured into three major clusters (Oasis cluster, High and Anti Atlas cluster, and Middle Atlas cluster). Compared to the Mediterranean genetic pools, from the East to West, the genetic diversity tends to be limited in Morocco which is the area of its extreme diffusion.

Highlights

The almond [Prunus dulcis (Miller) DA Webb, syn
The calculated values of the probability of identity (PI) and the power of discrimination (PD) showed that the locus CPSCT018 is the most informative with values of 0.012 and 0.979, respectively. This locus has the highest value of polymorphism information content PIC (0.921) relative to other loci
The present work is the first study which characterizes the diversity of almond grown in Morocco using microsatellite markers as molecular tools

Summary

Introduction

The almond [Prunus dulcis (Miller) DA Webb, syn. Prunusamygdalus Batsch] is a widely grown fruit tree that is commercially important throughout the world. The cultivated almond tree was introduced in the Mediterranean region during the second millennium BC [6,7] with a broad exchange of almond in the fourth century BC [8]. It led to the differentiation between two groups, the Mediterranean species and species of Central Asia [2]. It evolved slowly by seeding to the nineteenth century [1] and its culture, in the region, is often associated with seedling populations with selection of local varieties in some countries [9]. The Mediterranean region is regarded as a second source of domestication of the almond [5,10,11]

Methods

Results

Conclusion