Molecular Markers Efficiency for Assessment of Genetic Structure in Barley Accessions

Barley is the fourth most important grain crop in the world which is well-adapted to marginal and stress-prone environments, and hence a more reliable plant than wheat or rice in regions located in colder or higher altitude. Genetic diversity is a key component in breeding programs. We have analyzed the genetic diversity of 106 barley accessions using RAPD and ISSR molecular marker systems. The accessions were composed of wild and domesticated barley representing genotypes from fifteen different countries. A total of 40 polymorphic primers (20 RAPD and 20 ISSR) were used. The RAPD primers generated 331 amplification products and the ISSR primers produced 295 DNA fragments, out of which 225 and 247 were polymorphic, respectively. By RAPD markers the polymorphic banding patterns with the number of amplified fragments varied from 10 (AF-14 and OPL-09) to 26 (OPA-04). The percentage of polymorphism ranged from 53.84% (BY-15) to 100% (OFG-14, OPF-03 and W-07) with an average of 77.47%. Contrary to this, the number of bands amplified per primer by ISSR markers varied between 10 (UBC- 872, ISSR-4, 6 and 7) and 21 (UBC-845) and the percentage of polymorphism ranged from 57.14% (UBC-814) to 100% (ISSR-5 and 7) with 83.97% polymorphism. Dendrogram was constructed based on RAPD and ISSR polymorphism dividing the barley accessions into eleven however by combined RAPD+ISSR all samples were grouped into ten main distinct clusters. High correlation between the RAPD and ISSR marker systems was shown using a Mantel test (r = 0.852). The data obtained confirmed and indicated that Azerbaijan cultivated barley accessions distinctly diverged from wild types.