Genetic diversity of Smirnovia iranica Sabeti species from Iran using RAPD markers

Smirnovia iranica Sabeti is an endemic shrub species in Fabaceae family. It is found in sand dunes of central parts of Iran. It is very important for soil conservation, forage, landscape and medicinal values. RAPD is a useful genetic marker to determine polymorphism and relationship among plant species. In order to evaluate genetic diversity within and between Smirnovia iranica populations by 11 RAPD primers, 20 samples were collected from 4 sites of sand dune of Kashan. According to diversity indices, Dice similarity, cluster analysis and band information a total of 72 bands were amplified and 61 of the bands were polymorphic. Cluster analysis revealed a high amount of diversity among the studied samples. The most similar samples with 0.97 similarity were found in site 4, while the least similarity (0.65) was obtained for samples from different sites. Cluster analysis classified the samples in five groups. Two groups had only one sample. However, the other samples were distributed in other three groups one of which contained all samples of site 4. There was relatively fair coordination between genetic divergence and geographical origins.