Genetic diversity and relationship analysis among accessions of Aegilops ssp. in Turkey using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers

Abstract

Amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) DNA markers were used to assess the genetic diversity and relationships between 55 accessions of genus Aegilops, including the species Aegilops triuncialis L. (UUCC), Aegilops geniculata Roth (MMUU), Aegilops cylindrica Host (CCDD) and Aegilops umbellulata Zhuk (UU). The samples were collected from Aegean region and East Anatolia, Turkey. 16 AFLP selective primer combinations generated a total of 3200 polymorphic amplification products. 50 Aegilops accessions were analyzed using the data analysis software, unweighted pair-group method arithmetic average (UPGMA) method and numerical taxonomy and multivariate analysis system (NTSYSpc-2.02k). The similarity index coefficients were calculated according to simple matching coefficient. Using 16 AFLP primer combinations, species from Aegean region and east Anatolia were clustered as four major groups. Aegilops species having U genome clustered together and A. cylindrica host was out grouped.

Keywords: Aegilops cylindrica, Aegilops triuncialis, Aegilops umbellulata, Aegilops geniculata, amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP), Li-COR, genetic relationship, unweighted pair-group method arithmetic average (UPGMA), principle coordinate analysis.