Morphological and AFLP-Based Genetic Diversity Assessment of Elaeagnus angustifolia L.

Genetic diversity among Russian olive genotypes in three different regions of East-Azerbaijan province (includes Tabriz, Maragheh and Malekan) were assessed using morphological and molecular (AFLP) markers. Results of the quantitative and qualitative traits statistics showed a significant genetic variation among studied germplasm and categorized them in five distinguished groups. The most number of genotypes from Maragheh region were in group 1, while, the group 3 consisted of the majority of genotypes from Tabriz region. All genotypes were analyzed with 14 EcoRI-MseI primer combinations. A total of 439 informative and polymorph AFLP markers was generated and analyzed. Based on Jaccard Similarity Index, the minimum genetic similarity was observed between genotype 19 (from Malekan region) and 27 (from Maragheh). The principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) showed the suitable genomic distribution of AFLP markers among individuals. The highest (0.83 %) and lowest (0.33 %) polymorphic information content achieved by primers combination MTTT-EGA and MGT-ETA, respectively. Cluster analysis using molecular data and UPGMA algorithm, classified the studied genotypes in three distinguished groups. The genotypes at the same geographical region did not classify in the same group based on clustering by molecular data. However, this achieved to a large extent when they were classified groups using morphological traits. This result might be explained in terms of convergent evolution and some in part due to asexual propagation of Russian olive from the limited maternal genotypes and distribution across the different geographical regions.