Characterization of Microsatellite Loci in different Fig (Ficus carica L.) Landraces in Duhok and Erbil Provinces in Kurdistan Region-Iraq

Fig (Ficus carica L.) is one of the underused fruit crops cultivated in Mediterranean countries, which is considered as an important resource for commercial cultivation and breeding. In the current study, simple sequence repeats (SSR) markers were implemented to investigate genetic polymorphism and to assess the phylogenetic relationships among 14 fig landraces in Kurdistan Region-Iraq. Results revealed that, twenty SSR loci produced 73 alleles across all 14 studied samples. The expected heterozygosity was ranged from 0.071 to 0.796. The observed heterozygosity was ranged between 0.071 and 1.0000. Polymorphic information content, Fis and p-value were ranged from 0.067-0.735, 0.0020-1.0000 and 0.0020-1.0000 respectively. The genetic distances among the studied genotypes were ranged between 0.0145 and 0.2372. The UPGMA clustering analysis discriminated all these 14 fig genotypes and classified them completely into seven major genetic clusters namely; C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6 and C7 in the phylogenetic tree. Overall, it can be concluded that there were significant genetic diversities among these local fig landraces. The selected SSR markers allowed an unambiguous differentiation between studied fig landraces and proved the reliability of these markers in fingerprinting of fig genotypes. Also, it is noteworthy to mention that the study findings will aid the management of fig genotypes and might help the selection of these landraces for future breeding program in this region.