Characterization of some wild Berberis sp. genotypes distributed in the northeast of Iran

The wild barberry shrubs, commonly known as black barberry, are naturally widespread in the north and northeast elevations of Iran. Besides a rich gene bank, these are highly considered concerning food and medicinal purposes. The present research work was undertaken to evaluate the genetic diversity among 15 different barberry genotypes (14 wild and one cultivated genotypes) through morphological, biochemical, and molecular markers. The morphological traits of leaf, thorn, and berry were measured. The biochemical properties of the studied genotypes were also measured at the fruit ripening stage. Furthermore, the genotypes were subjected to simple sequence repeat analysis to ascertain their genetic diversity at the molecular level. The studied accessions were diverse in the case of morphological traits and they were classified into five distinct groups. Moreover, some rare and remarkable morphological characteristics were found in the fruit shape and fruit clusters of some genotypes not reported earlier. Though wide differences were obtained concerning fruit biochemical compounds, the differences didn’t have a clear trend. The accessions were characterized based on microsatellite analysis into eight groups in which the closely related genotypes had relatively higher geographical similarities. Access to the genetic diversity of these genotypes may be considered as the backbone of their future breeding programs and the reported data supported that the northeast of Iran may be assumed as a rich source for the diversity of Berberis germplasm.