Investigation of Genetic Diversity in Afghan Bread Wheat Genotypes Using SSR and AFLP Markers

Genetic diversity assessment is the principle component for conservation and characterization of germplasm. Genetic diversity study of Afghan bread wheat genotypes is a first step to identify and to select high performance genotypes and distribute to wheat breeding programs. The main objective of this study is to investigate of genetic diversity in 35 Afghan bread wheat genotypes by using Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) and Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP) markers. DNA extraction according to Cetyl Trimethyl Ammonium Bromide (CTAB) method was conducted and the total genomic DNA was isolated from each variety. Sixty-four SSR primer markers were used and eighteen EcoRI+(N)/MseI+(N) primer combinations with their primer sequences were used for selective polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification. Every SSR and AFLP fragment was scored as present (1) or absent (0) within all genotypes under study. Marker/ Value ratio of pairwise genetic distance between genotypes according to the SSRs data was from 0.508 to 0.691 with an average distance of 0.599. Relatively different grouping pattern in comparison to AFLP data observed through cluster analysis. Both types of molecular markers (AFLP and SSR) used in this research proved to be suitable for investigating genetic diversity in the genotypes of Afghan bread wheat, however, AFLP markers gave better view of genetically relationships among genotypes than the SSR markers. The grouping generated by AFLP data showed a special agreement with the origin regions of genotypes (Ariana-07 and Mazar-99 originating from the north of Afghanistan, Lalmi-03 and Kabul-02. Large number of DNA bands identified with AFLP markers might provide a better estimation of genetic similarity than those of SSR markers.