Full Length Research Paper

Assessment of genetic diversity in Triticum spp. and Aegilops spp. using AFLP markers

M. Khalighi¹, A. Arzani¹* and M. A. Poursiahbidi²

¹Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, College of Agriculture, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan-84156 83111, Iran.

²Ilam Agricultural Research Center, Ilam-69317 73834, Iran.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: a_arzani@cc.iut.ac.ir.

Accepted 17 December, 2007

Genetic diversity among some wild relatives of wheat was estimated using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) and morphological markers. Thirty one Triticum and Aegilops genotypes including twenty-four Triticum and Aegilops accessions belonging to five diploid (Triticum baeoticum, Triticum monococcum, Aegilops umbellulata, Aegilops caudata and Aegilops tauschii), five tetraploid (Triticum dicoccoides, Triticum dicoccum, Aegilops crassa (4x), Aegilops cylindrica, Aegilops triuncialis) and two hexaploid (Triticum compactum, A. crassa (6x)) species sampled from different eco-geographical regions of Iran; a durum wheat cultivar 'Langdon', a local wheat cultivar 'Roshan', a wheat cultivar 'Chinese spring' and four synthetic hexaploid wheats were evaluated. Genetic diversity among wheat accessions was estimated using 14 PstI:MseI primer pair combinations. Of the approximately 414 detected AFLP markers, 387 (93.5%) were polymorphic with 28 bands per used primer pair. Cluster analysis of 31 accessions belonging to the 15 species by UPGMA cluster analysis based on Jaccard’s similarity estimates for AFLP data divided all accessions into two major clusters reflecting almost their genome composition. The first one included wheat species having A and AB genomes, while second cluster included wheat species having C, D, AB, CD, UC, DM, DDM and ABD genomes. The genetic similarity coefficients ranged from 0.12 between Ae. glabra and accession number 3 of T. monococcum and 0.57 between A. crassa (6x) and Ae. crassa (4x-6x). Two Aegilops species of A. umbellulata and A. caudata were ranked as the second most related species.

Key words: Amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP), genetic diversity, wheat, Triticum spp., wild wheat, Aegilops spp.