Genetic assessment of the genus Pisum L. based on sequence specific amplification polymorphism data

Abstract

The present study was conducted to analyze genetic diversity among 56 accessions of Pisum sativum, Pisum elatius, Pisum pumilio, Pisum fulvum and Podandrogyne brevipedunculata from Syria (42) and a set of 16 reference accessions from Israel (3), Ethiopia (2), Greece (2), Italy (2), Turkey (3), Tunisia (1) and Georgia (1). The study was based on the analysis of multiple data sets generated using sequence specific amplification polymorphism (SSAP) and associated morphological and ecogeographic data. The diversity analysis based on SSAP markers resulted in 83 scorable fragments in P. sativum, P. elatius (63), P. fulvum (62), P. pumilio (53), P. brevipedunculata (31) and P. abyssinicum (29). Genetic variability was measured as Nei’s gene diversity and maximum polymorphism was found in P. elatius (33.87%) and P. fulvum (32.74%) whereas minimum diversity was observed in P. brevipedunculata (12.48%). Pair wise band sharing among Pisum species was also calculated, significant band sharing was observed between P. fulvum and P. elatius, P. elatius and P. sativum and P. pumilio and P. elatius. The relationship among species as revealed by SSAP data could not significantly be correlated with those based on the agro-morphologic characters, suggesting that the two inferences are independent and estimates of genetic relations differently among Pisum taxa. The ecogeographic data associated with Pisum species (latitude, longitude) were also plotted using Arc View GIS 3.2 in order to show the distribution of species in Syria.