Evaluation of Genetic Diversity in Some Iranian Bitter Vetch Landraces using Microsatellite Markers

The genetic diversity of 19 bitter vetch landraces (Vicia ervilia L.) from four provinces (East Azerbaijan, West Azerbaijan, Ardabil and Zanjan) of Iran was evaluated using 18 pairs of SSR primers. The extracted genomic DNA was amplified with eight pair primers and PCR products were separated on DNA sequencing gels. In this research, eight pair of SSR primers detected a total of 27 alleles. Primers VE02, VE05, VE07, VE09 and VE19 with four alleles had the highest and VE14 and VE27 with two alleles had the lowest number of alleles among the SSR markers employed. The average of observed heterozygosity was 0.0435. According to Chi-square test, populations were out of Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium. The results showed that the average of polymorphism information content (PIC) of primers was 0.5363. Primer VE02 had the highest PIC (0.6934) and primer VE27 had the lowest PIC (0.1093). The highest genetic distance was observed between Ardabil (from Ardabil province) with Chumalu (from Zanjan province) landraces. The least genetic distance was observed between Barazin (from East Azerbaijan province) and Khiarak (from Ardabil province) landraces. Cluster analysis based on Nei similarity coefficient matrix using UPGMA method classified the landraces into five main groups. The results indicated that SSR markers are efficient in case of polymorphism detection and genetic distance evaluation between Iranian bitter vetch landraces, and can be used as valuable tools in analysis of genetic relationships between bitter vetch landraces.