Genetic diversity structure of Aegilops crassa accessions revealed by genomic ISSR markers

Genetic diversity among 16 accessions of Aegilops crassa was investigated using 10 ISSR primers. Totally, 105 alleles were amplified and 86 alleles (81.90%), were polymorphic. Number of amplified alleles ranged from 6 to 15 with average number of 11 alleles for each primer. Polymorphic information content (PIC) varied from 0.17 (primer UBC 842) to 0.34 (primer ISSR12). Marker index criterion ranged from 0.98 (primer UBC842) to 2.7 (primer ISSR08). Cluster and principal coordinate analysis could not completely separate accessions and showed no association between molecular diversity and geographic diversity of the genotypes, indicating that there is high genetic diversity among the accessions. Mean genetic similarity between microsatellite marker information was 0.89 ranged from 0.76 (between two genotypes from Kermanshah and Tabriz) to 0.96 (between two genotypes of Ilam and Kermanshah). Based on analysis of molecular variance, a larger proportion of genetic variation (53%) belonged to within populations, while a small proportion (47%) observed among the studied populations.