Study of genetic variation of Juniperus polycarpus from Tandure National Park of Iran using RAPD markers.

Document Type : Research Paper

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Abstract

Genus of Juniperus is one of the widely distributed plants from coniferales in the world which is native to moderate regions of central and south Asia. In this study, RAPD markers were used to evaluate the genetic variation among 21 samples of Juniperus (collected fram 6 habitat of Tandure National Park of Iran). The 7 RAPD primers produced 58 scorable bands of which 33 (57%) were polymorphic. The pair-wise genetic distance was from 0.129 to 0.788. The average Heterozygosity within accessions (Hs) was 0.213 and the total heterozygosity was 0.326. The Fst Index was 0.346 and the gene flow (Nm) was 0.944. The dendrogram constructed using UPGMA method, distinguished 2 main groups among 6 accessions of Juniperus that had good compatibility with geographical map of park and was also confirmed by PCoA. Based on the high level of genetic diversity within the accessions in comparison with the genetic diversity among the accessions, the confirmation of AMONA analysis, and the relatively good level of gene flow among the accessions, we can conclude that there is a good amount of gene exchange among Juniperus accessions, due to ease of pollen transfer from zone to another zone using wind, birds, insects and … .     

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