Evaluation of Population Structure and Estimation of Genetic Parameters in Breeding Lines and Landraces Populations of Durum Wheat Using ISSR Markers

Evaluation of genetic diversity is the key principal for plant breeding, providing an opportunity to discover novel characters and alleles for breeders. In the present study, 69 durum wheat genotypes were investigated for genetic diversity using several inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers. Sixteen ISSR primers amplified a total of 163 fragments, which out 160 fragments were polymorphic. The mean values of polymorphic information content (PIC), resolving power (Rp) and marker index (MI) indicated that the used ISSR primers could be exploited for further assessing relationships among investigated genotypes and population structure analysis. The results of the molecular analysis of variance showed that the genetic variation within populations is more than between them. Based on genetic variation parameters, the highest number of observed alleles (Na), Shannon’s information index (I) and the percentage of polymorphic loci (PPL) were found in Iranian landraces. Cluster analysis and population structure grouped all investigated genotypes into three main clusters and six subpopulations, respectively. In conclusion, our results revealed the high rate of genetic diversity within Iranian landraces, so this germplasm can be used as a valuable gene source for the selection of parent lines and use of them in durum wheat breeding programs.