Genetic Diversity of Iranian Wild Medicago sativa Populations Based on Total Proteins and its Association with Ecological Factors

Genetic diversity of 210 genotypes of M. sativa from 21 populations and its association with ecological factors were studied at Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands, Iran using total proteins profiles. On the basis of SDS-PAGE, 44 reproducible bands, protein peptides, were used for analysis and genetic diversity. SDS-PAGE of total proteins showed high inter- and intera-population diversity but no clear differentiation on the basis of origin or source. The Pearson correlation coefficient was used to study the relationship between genetic and ecological factors, total and monthly precipitation mean (mm), maximum and minimum temperature (ºC) and altitude (m). Results indicated that there was an opposite correlation between altitude and total number of alleles and number of frequent alleles. Correlation between genetic and geographical distance matrices was not significant (R = 0.0281, P = 0.10), analyzed with Mantel test, indicating lack of clinal trends in variation of total proteins. As Iran is the centre of diversity of Medicago, high variations for various parameters are expected. It is suggested that the genetic base of cultivated M. sativa should be broadened by involving diverse parents in the breeding program. Expansion of the genetic base for M. sativa breeding might be accomplished by systematic use of germplasm that differs in protein profiles and has better quantitative traits.