Genetic Diversity and Relationships among Some Iranian Cultivated Almond Genotypes and Related Wild Species Using RAPD Markers

Iran is worldwide one of the main growing regions for commercial and wild almonds due to its suitable climatic conditions. In this study, we characterized using RAPDs the genetic diversity and relationships between 62 almond genotypes, including eight related species (P. dulcis, P. scoparia, P. arabica, P. eburnea, P. erioclada, P. lycioides, P. orientalis and P. communis). Sixteen RAPD primers (TIBMOLBIOL Co., Germany) produced 260 bands from which 250 were polymorphic (96.15%). Total resolving power (Rp) was 121.83, ranging from a minimum of 4.25 for TIBMBB-16 to a maximum of 11.64 for TIBMBD-05. Jaccard similarity coefficient was calculated and was used to construct an UPGMA dendro-gram. Similarity values among the studied genotypes ranged between 0.28 and 0.79 with an average of 0.53. Cluster analysis and principle coordinate analysis (PCoA), partially discriminated the genotypes studied regarding their geographical origin. At the similarity of 0.52 in the dendrogram, the genotypes were divided into four sub-clusters. Our results indicated a wide genetic diversity at molecular level for the existing almond germplasm in Iran.