Investigation of genetic diversity in populations of Achillea biebersteinii Afan. from Iran using RAPD molecular markers

Genetic diversity of 39 genotypes from 25 populations of Achillea biebersteinii Afan., collected from different parts of Iran, were evaluated using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) data. From a total of 18 primers used, 322 recognizable RAPD bands were detected of which 279 were polymorphic (86.6%). The average number of bands per primer was 17.9. Total resolving power was 147 with the mean of 8.17. Among the primers, maximum resolving power was recorded for the primer BA03 (16.67). Jaccard’s similarity index was used for measuring genetic similarities among the genotypes. The highest similarity (0.95) was found between Mohammad Shahr-2 and Mohammad Shar-5 genotypes, whereas the lowest was observed between Meshkin Shahr-2 and Piran Shahr-1, and also Meshkin Shahr-6 and Piran Shahr-1 (0.24). UPGMA algorithm was used for cluster analysis. Cluster analysis separated the 39 genotypes into 15 main groups. The obtained clusters based on RAPD markers to some extent matched with the geographical origin of the studied populations of A. biebersteinii. Genotypes of Piran Shahr-1 and Tangehgol-2 showed the highest difference to the other genotypes and classified in separate groups, and maximum similarity was observed among the genotypes of Mohammad Shahr population with over 0.90 similarity. Results showed a high level of genetic diversity among the investigated genotypes. The results also indicated that RAPD technique was a suitable approach for assessing genetic diversity and germplasm management in populations of the species.