Assessment of Genetic Variation of Rubus spp. in Golestan Province using AFLP Markers

The genus Rubus, from the family ofRosaceae Juss, has about 750 species worldwide, of which 8 species and 5 hybrids have been reported from Iran. The present study was conducted to evaluate the genetic diversity of 21 populations of 6 species of Rubus from different parts of Golestan province using 9 AFLP primer combinations. Excel and Pop Gen software were used for data analysis. Similarity matrix and cluster analysis were used by PAST software. The dendrogram was plotted based on unweighted pair group method with arithmetic average (UPGMA), using Jaccard's similarity coefficient. The results showed that eight out of nine selected primer combinations had appropriate polymorphic primer combinations. M160-E110 with 0.203 had the highest genetic variation among all used markers. All selected primer combinations found 505 position and 277 loci locations. Based on the results of the dendrogram, the studied populations were divided into two groups. Based on the results of the dendrogram, the studied populations were divided into two groups and the Caspian-Irano-Turanian populations were partially separated from the Caspian populations. According to the results of correlation analysis, the highest number of markers were related to traits of petiole length, terminal leaflet length, lateral leaf length, inflorescence length, lateral leaf width, and peduncle length. Results showed that AFLP marker was highly efficient in the separation and isolation of populations of species of Rubus species in this study.