Comparative Assessment of IRAP, REMAP, ISSR, and SSR Markers for Evaluation of Genetic Diversity of Alfalfa ( Medicago sativa L.)

Abstract

The effectiveness of IRAP, REMAP, SSR, and ISSR mar kers were investigated to assess genetic diversity among and within eight Medicago sativa L. populations. A total of 101, 119, 117 loci and 31 alleles were amplified using 1 0 IRAP, 14 REMAP, 16 ISSR and eight SSR primers, respectively. IRAP markers generated t he maximum proportion of polymorphic loci per primer (PPLP) while the maximu m value of percentage of polymorphic loci (PPL) was observed for SSR markers . ISSR markers showed the highest value of marker index (MI). The maximum amount of e xpected heterozygosity (He), effective number of alleles (Ne), and Shannon’s inf ormation index was produced by SSR markers. UPGMA cluster using Nei’s genetic distance coefficients and combined data of four markers separated the populations into three m ajor groups. Correlation coefficients among pairwise genetic and geographic distance matr ices, made on the basis of all studied markers, were calculated using Mantel's test. Regre ssion and correlation analysis between genetic distance and geographic distance showed no significant correlations (p>0.05). Keywords: Cluster analysis, Marker index, Medicago sativa, Retrotransposon-based markers.