Assessment of EMS-induced Variations In rice Mutant Lines Using ISSR Marker

Using mutation has been relevant to induce genetic variation and new genetic material، and it was used to improve different qualitative and quantitative traits in crop plants. In this research، eighteen rice mutant lines which were selected from a mutant population developed from mutagenesis of rice elite cultivar Neda by using ethyl methane sulfonate (EMS) for reduced plant height، higher tiller number، early maturation and higher yield، were evaluated at molecular level using ISSR markers. Eight out of 10 primers successfully amplified DNA from different genotypes. In total، 67 bands (in average 8. 4 bands per primer) were produced، 53. 7% of which showed polymorphism between genotypes. Average Nei`s genetic diversity in the studied population was 14. 1%. Highest similarity to original cultivar (86. 8%) belonged to high-yielding mutant group and lowest similarity (76. 7%) belonged to high-tiller mutant group. Cluster analysis using UPGMA method، placed the original cultivar alone in one cluster and 4 mutant groups in another distinct cluster. Cluster analysis was also performed separately in each sub-cluster that except for high-tiller group it could discriminate the original cultivar from any other three mutant groups. On the basis of the results of this research، it can be concluded that mutation technique was a desirable method for inducing genetic variation in rice and also it is possible to use ISSR markers for identification of mutant lines in populations developed from mutagenesis by EMS.