Evaluation of Junipers spp. Genetic Diversity in Northern Iran using ISSR Markers

The aim of the present work was to study genetic diversity within and among of five native populations of Juniperus spp. in three provenances of Golestan, Mazandran and Gilan. Four out of 15 ISSR primers have yielded 285 scorable, polymorphic fragments in 32 accessions, which were utilized to estimate genetic diversity. Analysis of molecular variance with GenALEx software revealed a 48% genetic diversity among Juniperus populations and 52% of molecular variance was observed within the populations. The mean percentage of polymorphic loci in each population estimated to be 38.64%. Natural sexual propagation by seeds in each population likely is the main reason for the high rate of polymorphic loci. Another interesting issue is the genetic differences between male and female trees belong to one species which we should take into account during clonal propagation of designated juniperus species. The high rates of genetic variation within population which likely is associated with dioecy and presence of unisexual flowers in Juniperus species and also specific allelic combinations which could have been selected in order to adapt to particular environmental conditions are not present in other areas of distribution are prime importance for planning conservation strategies. By means of assessing the amount and distribution of genetic variability, this study represents an important step towards developing conservation guidelines and strategies for native Iranian Junipers.