Use of intron-exonic marker in assessment of genetic diversity of two subspecies of Thymus daenensis

Study of genetic diversity in medicinal plant is very important for improvement and evolutionary variations. In this study، assessment of genetic diversity in two subspecies of Thymus daenensis was evaluated، using intron-exonic markers. Thirty primers produced 633 polymorphic bands (98% polymorphism). The highest polymorphic information content (PIC) included ISJ5 and ISJ9 primers and the lowest PIC also included IT15-32 primer. The highest marker index (MI) produced by IT10-6 primer. Results of Analysis of Molecular Variance (AMOVA) showed that intra-sub specific variation was more than inter-sub specific variation. Dendrogram obtained from Cluster analysis، using NTSYS-pc software and UPGMA method based on Dice''s similarity matrix، divided accessions into 4 groups. The maximum range of genetic similarity was observed between two accessions of sub-species daenensis. Two accessions of Fars and Semnan formed a separate group. Results showed that clustering based on molecular data and principal coordinate analysis had a medium alignment. Grouping based on cluster analysis also could separate two subspecies of Thymus daenensis. Results obtained from this study showed that intron-exonic markers had an effective potential in assessment of genetic relationships between the two sub-species of daenensis.