Strong relationship between molecular and morphological attributes in Iranian mentha populations (Mentha mozaffarianii Jamzad)

Genetic variation, as a multi-scalar variable, is important to genetic resource and conservation programs. M. mozaffarianii Mentha mozaffarianii Jamzad is an aromatic, medicinal and endemic plant in southern Iran. However, the genetic information of M. mozaffarianii is lacking. The study presented here is one of the first investigations to survey the genetic diversity of this valuable plant using Inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers and morphological traits. This study also performed an association analysis to provide any correlation between the markers mentioned above. Individuals revealed by morphological features were divided into two major groups using cluster analysis based on Ward’s method. Results of ISSR analysis revealed genetic variations within and between populations to be 54% and 46%, respectively. In addition, 24 selected ISSR primers produced 343 polymorphic bands (Nei’s genetic diversity 0.146–0.427, Shannon’s information index 0.240–0.614). Cluster analysis using Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic Mean divided all individuals into two major groups and a high co-phenetic correlation coefficient (r = 0.850) was observed. The study of population structure as a prerequisite for correlation analysis showed two subgroups (K = 2). In mixed linear model analysis, 249 sites were identified to be related to the studied traits ( p ≤ 0.02). The site ISSR42-20 was found to be associated with six features. This characterization could improve our understanding of the relationships among the evaluated traits. Flower diameter had the highest number of related markers (17 locations). Results showed that ISSRs were successful markers to show genetic diversity among populations. Results of the current study provided valuable information regarding M. mozaffarianii , which could be helpful in genetic studies, conservation, reproduction, breeding programs, and production of cultivars with high biomass contents.