Genetic structure and variation of moshgak (Ducrosia anethifolia boiss.) Populations based on morphological and molecular markers

Abstract

Ducrosia anethifolia has been considered as a traditional aromatic vegetable of Apiaceae. In this study, 55 accessions of D. anethifolia, which belonged to 11 populations, were collected from different geographical regions of Iran including South, Center, North-West and South-East. Collected accessions were cultivated based on a randomized complete block design (RCBD) in three replicates. The essential oil content of the leaves varied from 0.7% in S-FALa-4 to 1.2% in NW-QAQa1 populations. The results obtained by the morphological analysis classified the accessions in three groups. South accessions were assigned to the first group, North-Western and the rest of South accessions were put in the second group. Central (Isfahan province) and South-Eastern ones were classified in the third group. The results of this study showed significant variation among the accessions for different morphological traits. Principle component analysis (PCA) indicated three components explaining 67.43% of the total variation. PCA results confirmed cluster analysis, but molecular and morphological results did not confirm each other. Nine SRAP primers produced 177 bands of which 113 were polymorphic. Relatively high polymorphism (64.6%) was obtained for the SRAP primers in the studied Ducrosia anethifolia accessions. The results, therefore, revealed that accessions were categorized in four groups based on their geographical origins. Principle coordinates analysis (PCoA) also confirmed the results of the cluster analysis in most cases. In this research, the accessions were not classified according to their geographical origins. Based on the analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA), a higher genetic diversity was observed within population (94.02%), in comparison to the among-population diversity (5.97%). High gene flow (Nm = 3.14) and low genetic differentiation (Gst = 0.137) obtained for the studied populations. The molecular data was also analyzed using the STRUCTURE software and accordingly, four groups were determined. Finally, S-FABi-1 and C-YAAb-1 revealed the highest genetic admixture among the accessions.