genetic diversity in iranian melon populations and hybrids assessed by irap and remap markers

retrotransposons (rtns) constitute informative molecular markers for plant species because of their ability to integrate into a multitude of loci throughout the genome and thereby generate insertional polymorphisms between individuals. in the present study, rtn-based molecular markers, irap (inter-retrotransposon amplified polymorphism) and remap (retrotransposon-microsatellite amplified polymorphism), were applied to study rtn integration events and genetic diversity in 100 melon genotypes (88 genotypes from 11 populations, three inbred lines, and 9 hybrids). a total of 94 and 262 loci were amplified using 5 irap and 15 remap primers, respectively. the percentage of polymorphic loci (ppl) in populations ranged from 39% (zivari shahrood) to 48% (shadegani e). the mantel test between irap and remap cophenetic matrices evidenced no significant correlation (r= 0.29). irap+remap-based cluster analysis using upgma algorithm and dice similarity coefficient depicted 6 groups among 100 melon genotypes. amova revealed the higher level of genetic variation within populations (67%) compared to among populations (33%). the mean fst values of all groups, except for group vi, were more than 0.20, demonstrating differentiation among the populations and genetic structure of the studied melon collection.