Evaluation of genetic diversity in some Iranian and foreign sweet cherry cultivars by using RAPD molecular markers and morphological traits.

摘要

Sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.), a member of Rosaceae family, is an economically important fruit of the temperate zone. In Iran, various sweet cherry genotypes are grown in different areas. For estimation of genetic diversity, 23 RAPD decamer primers data as well as 23 morphological traits were used on 39 sweet cherry cultivars and genotypes, 28 of Iranian and 11 of foreign origin. Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) data was used for clustering of genotypes using UPGMA method. Based on the results, in some cases, clustering of genotypes by RAPD data was in agreement with morphological data; however, the correlation between the two sets of data was not significant (r=0.2). The coephenitic coefficients between genotypes varied from 0.43 to 0.83 and the value of calculated polymorphism was 81.7 percent, indicating the presence of a high variation between the studied cultivars. This could be due to the presence of both Iranian and foreign genotypes in the experiment. In the main subcluster, genotypes from both origins were present and some genotypes were showing close relationships. Significant regression associations were found between 7 morphological traits and RAPD markers and some informative markers were found for the traits. Also, in clustering of genotypes good agreements were found between the subclusters and the pollination incompatibility groups reported by other workers. The results showed that RAPD is an effective maker for study of genetic diversity among sweet cherry genotypes.