The structure of Genetic Diversity of Pistacia atlantica subsp. mutica Revealed by RAPD-PCR Molecular Markers

Pistacia atlantica subsp. mutica is one of the most valuable forest tree species in Iran that has been severely exploited for a long time. Therefore, understanding the genetic diversity of different populations can be an important step towards the development and restoration of the habitat of this invaluable tree species. In this study, in order to study the genetic diversity, 10 populations including 59 genotypes via 13 RAPD primers, totally 97 alleles were generated with an average of 7.46 alleles per primer that 100% alleles were polymorphic. Polymorphic information content (PIC) varied from 0.11 (primer Oligo342) to 0.21 (primer Oligo18). Marker index criterion ranged from 0.39 (primer Oligo203) to 4.35 (primer Oligo342). Abdanan population indicated the highest value of polymorphic alleles (57.73 %) and Shannon’s index (0.251) and the highest value of unbiased expected heterozygosity index (0.172) was observed for the Banaeh population. Whereas the lowest value of polymorphic alleles (13.40 %), unbiased expected heterozygosity (0.074) and Shannon’s index (0.081) were observed for out of Zagros population. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) showed that a larger proportion of genetic variation (78%) belonged to intra-populations, while 22% of genetic variation was observed for inter-populations. Cluster Analysis could not completely separate samples and showed the lack of association between molecular diversity and geographic diversity populations. The genetic diversity among the evaluated samples can be promising for restoring the habitats of P. atlantica.