assessment of genetic variation of punica granatum l. genotypes from seven regions of iran using aflp markers

pomegranate (punica granatum l. that one punicaceae) is one of the important economical and commercial horticultural plants cultivated in arid and semiarid parts of iran. also, due to the long history of pomegranate cultivation in iran, genotypes from different regions with obvious similarities in appearance but with different names can be observed. thus, the precise discrimination between .genotypes is essential for effective management for future pomegranate breeding programs. in this study, aflp markers based on seven primer combinations (ecori/tru1i) were used to evaluate genetic variation and phylogenic relationship among 31 different .genotypes of native pomegranate belonging to seven of iran provinces. according to the cluster analysis, a relatively low genetic diversity was observed across the .genotypes studied. also, the results showed that the clustering of the cultivars didn’t concerne to morphological traits. the derived dendrogram proved that .genotypes are clustered independently from their geographical origin and their denomination. heterozygosity index, principal co-ordinates analysis (pcoa), gst index and analysis of molecular variance (amova) revealed noticeable similarity among studied populations and observed variation within populations was very low and near zero. the high level of morphological traits diversity in iranian pomegranate and low level of polymorphism in genome organization of these .genotypes determined by aflp markers may be related to the somatic propagation and also type of pomegranate pollination.