Abstract
Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) is an important horticultural plant with several cultivated forms planted in different regions of Iran. Due to its economic importance, studies have been carried out to illustrate the genetic diversity at the chromosomal and molecular levels in different pomegranate cultivars growing in this region. This study analyzed chromosome pairing and B-chromosomes of 21 pomegranate cultivars and tried to investigate the effects of geographical parameters like altitude and longitude as well as elevation and the mean annual rainfall on cytogenetic diversity of these taxa. An ANOVA test revealed the presence of a significant difference for chiasmata and chromosome pairing among the cultivars, indicating their genetic differences. A positive significant correlation was observed between total chiasma frequency and terminal chiasmata, intercalary chiasmata and the mean number of quadrivalents. A significant positive correlation was observed between annual rainfall and the mean number of rod bivalents, while a significant negative correlation was found for the number of ring bivalents. Altitude did not show any correlation with the cytogenetic characters studied, but showed a significant negative correlation with the number of univalents. Longitude showed significant positive correlation with the number of ring bivalents and a negative correlation with the number of univalents and intercalary chiasmata. PCA analysis showed that both geographical and cytological features contribute greatly in the diversity observed in the pomegranate cultivars. The occurrence of multipolar cells and unreduced pollen grains were observed in some of the cultivars.
Highlights
Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) is an important horticultural plant with several cultivated forms planted in different regions of Iran
Chromosome pairing and chiasma frequency were determined by using a minimum of 100 meiocytes showing diakinesis/metaphase-I stages, while chromosome segregation was studied in a minimum of 500 anaphase I and II stages
Analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by the least significant difference test (LSD) was performed on cytogenetic characteristics including chromosome pairing, chiasma frequency as well as distribution to indicate any significant difference among the cultivars studied (Sheidai et al 2003)
Summary
Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) is an important horticultural plant with several cultivated forms planted in different regions of Iran (see Fig. 1). These cultivars differ in their fruit characteristic, such as size, color, time of ripening, disease resistance, and taste. Due to its economic importance, studies have been carried out to illustrate the genetic diversity at both chromosomal and molecular levels on different pomegranate cultivars growing in Iran. About 700 pomegranate accessions are available in Iran, which were collected in the cities of Saveh and Yazd (Behzadi-Shahrbabaki 1998), but information about their polyploidy level and genetic structure is very limited and needs further investigation. The paper investigates, for the first time, the role played by ecological and cytological features in genetic diversity of the pomegranate in Iran
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