Identification of Informative Markers Associated with Morphological Traits in Iranian Melon

Identification of informative markers associated with morphological traitscan be important in breeding programs specifically in selection of elite plants and constructing genetic maps. In this study, association analysis was used to detect informative markers. This technique is applied to study the relation between phonotypic and genetic diversity which allows subsequent constructing genetic maps. Stepwise regression analysis was used to determine the association between 15 morphological traits and 10 ISSR markers in 27 Iranian melon (Cucumis melo sp.) accessions. The 10 ISSR primers generated 88 polymorphic markers. The average number of ISSR markers generated was 17.2 per primer and the level of polymorphism was 51.2%. Polymorphism information content (PIC) was ranged from 0.15 for (AC)8G to 0.36 for (AG)8T and (CA)8A. Marker index was ranged from 0.54 (for (AC)8YG) to 6.67 (for (AG)8T). Minimum and maximum number of markers was found for placenta diameter (7 markers) and seed diameter (27 markers) respectively. Maximum total adjusted coefficient of determination (R2) (99.7 %) was estimated for 100-grain weight.Results indicated that the use of markers having high linkage with morphological traits can also be utilized to identify informative markers associated with these traits. This result showed that relation between primers and morphological traits is independence of marker index and polymorphism information content.