Assessing Genetic Diversity in Iranian Native Silkworm (Bombyx mori L.) Strains and Japanese Commercial Lines Using AFLP Markers

Three Iranian native strains and three Japanese commercial lines of the silkworm Bombyx mori were analyzed using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers. A set of ten PstI/TaqI primer combinations amplified a total of 322 bands out of which 251 (%78) were polymorphic. Estimates of Nei’s gene diversity for all loci in individual strains and commercial lines indicated a higher degree of genetic similarity within Japanese commercial lines than the Iranian native strains. The highest and the least degree of gene diversity were related to the Khorasan Orange strain (h=0.1812) and P107 commercial line (h=0.0804), respectively. The dendrogran constructed using the unweighted pair-group method with arithmitic average based on nai’s genetic distance revealed two distinct groups as Khorasan native and Japanese commercial lines. The distinct clustering of these two sets of strains and lines reflects differences of the geographical origin and morphological, qualitative and quantitative traits associated with them.