MICROSATELLITE ANALYSIS OF GENETIC DIVERSITY OF WILD BARLEY (HORDEUM VULGARE SUBSP. SPONTANEUM) USING DIFFERENT SAMPLING METHODS IN IRAN

The genetic diversity patterns of 54 natural populations and 40 individuals of wild barley from different localities in Iran were analyzed using 26 microsatellites markers. At population level, high levels of diversity (0.71), with an average number of 6.92 alleles per locus (ranging up to 17) and high level polymorphism with polymorphism rate averaging 0.67 were observed. Average number of alleles was 38.37 per population (ranged from 36.33 in the Northeast to 38.94 in the West) and 28.42 per individual (ranged from 28.11 in the West to 29 in the North). In dendrograms, accessions collected from the North and Northeast of Iran were grouped away from those collected from the West and Northwest, suggesting the presence of two different wild barley sub genepools in this country. The genetic diversity decreases from the West toward the East. Based on the results of this study the wild Iranian gene pool of barley represents high level of diversity and there is value to search for new useful alleles to incorporate to the breeding programs.