Allelic diversity of low-molecular-weight glutenin subunit genes in Iranian winter wheat landrace

In the present study, allelic diversity of low-molecular-weight glutenin genes was analyzed in 193 Iranian winter wheat landraces and Thatcher cultivar. Using Glu3A.2 primer pair, eight fragments with size of 315-358 bp were amplified so the fragment of 342 bp with 37.2% and the fragment of 315 bp with 0.6% showed maximum and minimum frequency, respectively. Based on Glu3A.3 primer pair, five fragments with range of 638-754 bp were amplified which the fragment of 700 bp and 742 bp with 92.1% and 0.6% showed maximum and minimum frequency, respectively. Two fragments 440 bp with frequency of 74.6% and 421 bp with frequency of 25.4% were amplified using Glu3B.2 primer pair. Glu3D.2 primer pair amplified three fragments with size of 571, 558 and 382 bp and frequency of 1.7%, 88.1% and 10.2%, respectively. Six fragments with ranging from 589 to 611 bp with frequency of 1.2-27.9% were produced using Glu3D.3 primer pair. Glu3D.4 primer pair amplified only one fragment of 700 bp in the Iranian winter wheat landraces. The PIC value ranged from 0.15 to 0.75 with an average of 0.24 and the gene diversity or expected heterozygosity varied from 0.15 to 0.78 with an average value of 0.26. Cluster analysis based on molecular data using No. of difference distance coefficient and Neighbor-Joining algorithm assigned the Iranian winter wheat varieties into two groups. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) based on climatic conditions (five climatic conditions cold, mountainous,temperate, warm and dry) revealed higher within group variation (94%) compared to between group. The result of this study showed that Iranian wheat landraces could be used as valuable genetic resources in breeding programs to improve bread making quality of wheat.