Investigating Genetic Diversity and Relationships in some Henbane (Hyoscyamus spp.) Populations Based on Polymorphisms Resulting from Retrotransposon Insertion

Henbane has a high medicinal value due to the presence of hyoscyamine and scopolamine alkaloids. Improving the quality and quantity of henbane alkaloids using modern breeding methods requires evaluating the genetic diversity. The genetic diversity of henbane has been investigated using morphological, biochemical and molecular markers in several studies and the superiority of molecular markers over other markers has been proven. To this end, in 2018, the genetic diversity of 96 henbane genotypes collected from the habitats of northwest Iran was investigated using IRAP and REMAP molecular markers. For IRAP markers, out of 36 possible combinations obtained from eight LTR primers, seven combinations had a fine and scalable amplification. In the REMAP technique, the combination of 11 ISSR primers with eight LTR primers was used, and 12 combinations could be scored out of 88 possible combinations. The average amount of polymorphic information for IRAP and REMAP markers was 0.30 and 0.32, respectively, and the average marker index for these two markers was estimated as 2.59 and 2.47. Based on these criteria, REMAP marker was more efficient than IRAP in estimating the genetic diversity of henbane. In the analysis of molecular variance using IRAP and REMAP markers, intra-population variability was estimated to be higher than inter-population, which indicates the high diversity of these populations in northwestern Iran. Cluster analysis based on IRAP marker failed to separate species and populations, but REMAP marker was able to separate H. pusillus and H. reticulatus species to a high degree. A high shannon index in this research suggests that IRAP and REMAP retrotransposon markers resulted in a high genetic diversity within henbane populations with a high insertion in the genome of henbane populations.