Genetic diversity of Iranian Bunium persicum Boiss ecotypes using sequencing of the ITS region of nuclear ribosomal DNA

One of the important perennial herb in Apiaceae family is Black caraway (Bunium persicum) which is growing naturally in some regions of Iran and a few neighboring countries. In order to evaluate genetic diversity of Iranian germplasm، nine ecotypes of the species were collected and their ITS2 and ITS1-5. 8s rRNA- ITS2 regions were amplified by PCR and sequenced. Sequences were aligned in the ClustalW method by using MegAlign program. Phylogenic dendrogram، identity and divergence matrices were designed. Low genetic diversity was found among the ecotypes in comparison with previous studies via morphological and biochemical markers. Comparison of the sequences of ITS1-5. 8s rRNA- ITS2 regions of two ecotypes (Mashhad University and Kalat Naderi) with ref-seq genomic database at NCBI، showed the highest similarity with Sorghum bicolor، Oryza sativa، Arabidopsis thaliana and Vitis vinifera sequences. Considering low similarity between the results of two distinct studies of the authors، results of morphological and biochemical markers are more reliable than molecular markers (ITS2). It could be concluded that the ITS2 molecular marker does not seem to be compatible for intra-species studies. Other convenient molecular markers for assessment of genetic diversity of black caraway are suggested.