Determination of genetic variations of chickpea, lentil and almond genotypes stored in the Jordanian gene bank using PCR-based molecular markers

The genetic diversity of some chickpea and lentil accessions collected from different regions adapted from the Jordanian Seed Genebank presented in NARC with some cultivated almond and local wild genotypes were determined using ISSR and SCoT markers. For chickpea genotypes the polymorphism average and PIC values obtained from ISSR and SCoT primers were 72% and 75%, 0.17 and 0.26, respectively. In STRUCTURE analysis, SCoT markers were found to be more informative than ISSR. For lentil genotypes the polymorphism average and PIC values in ISSR and SCoT primers were found to be 92% and 89%, 0.24 and 0.27, respectively, and high genetic similarity values were found between local and wild landraces demonstrated by the both markers. In STRUCTURE analysis, 2 different populations were obtained with ISSR markers and 3 different populations with SCoT markers. In almond genotypes the polymorphism average in ISSR and SCoT primers were 90 % and 93 % respectively, while the PIC value was 0.25 in both markers. The genetic similarity values between the cultivated and wild almond genotypes were high and almost the same for the two markers. The ISSR marker showed to be more informative than SCoT marker evaluated by STRUCTURE analysis which produced three populations instead of two. Studies on genetic diversity for Jordanian plant species, especially legumes and their wild relatives, are very few, our study results have contributed to this area. The findings obtained from ISSR, and SCoT markers provided important data for the characterization of the samples inside the seed genebank. Keywords: Plant genetic resources, Seed genebank, ISSR, SCoT, Genetic diversity