Study of genetic diversity in Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) ecotypes using ISSR marker

Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill.) is one the oldest known medicinal plants, which is naturally andcommercially grown in Iran and many parts of the world. In this study, the genetic variation of 17 Iranianfennel ecotypes were investigated by ISSR molecular marker. The ISSR markers produced a total of 51genomic DNA segments, of which 45 bands were polymorphic. The mean polymorphism per primer, meanPolymorphic Index Content (PIC), and Marker Index (MI) were 9, 0.478 and 5.92, respectively. Thedendrogram was constructed using UPGMA method and Jaccard’s similarity matrix. The ecotypes weregrouped under three main groups. The 2D and 3D PCoA analysis confirmed the results of the cluster analysis.The results indicated that the studied ecotypes had meaningful genetic diversity, and the genetic groupingusing ISSR markers was correlated with the geographical distribution of the genotypes. This study couldimprove the knowledge about the Iranian fennel genetic pool, and contribute to breeding and germplasmprotection programs of medicinal plants.