Genetic diversity of Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. ciceri, the causal agent of Iranian chickpea vascular wilt in ILAM Province using ISSR markers

Fusarium wilt disease of Iranian chickpea caused by Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. ciceri fungus is one of the most important chickpea diseases in Iran. In order to study the genetic diversity of this pathogen, 47 isolates were collected from infected areas in Ilam province. After extracting DNA, the genetic diversity of these isolates was analyzed using ISSR molecular markers. Based on the results at the level of 64% similarity coefficient, isolates were clustered into 24 groups. This result demonstrates the high genetic diversity among the isolates in Ilam province. Based on information obtained from ISSR primers were among six studied populations, the highest genetic distance was found to be 0.054 between Sarableh and Sirvan populations and the lowest genetic distance as 0.010 between Asemanabad and Shabab populations. Gene flow and genetic differentiation using Pop GEN software showed that gene flow is related to ISSR5 with its amount as 18.27 and the lowest value was related to ISSR7 with its amount as 1.65 and the mean gene flow was calculated as 4.60. In this research, the mean flow was 0.098. The calculated genetic variance was 6% between the populations and as well as to be 94% in populations. High genetic variation between and among populations shows the potential different aggressiveness of isolates. This shows the importance of the dominant pathotype(s) identification in the region as well as using them in the process of introduction new resistant cultivars.