Abstract:
Lack of requisite genetic variation in cultivated
species has necessitated systematic collection, documentation
and evaluation of wild Cicer species for use in chickpea
variety improvement programs. Cicer arietinum has very
narrow genetic variation, and the use of a wild relative in
chickpea breeding could provide a good opportunity for increasing the available genetic variation of cultivated chickpea.
Genetic diversity and the relationship of 71 accessions, from
the core area of chickpea origin and domestication (Southeastern Turkey), belonging to five wild annual species and one
cultivated species (Cicer arietinum) were analysed using
iPBS-retrotransposon and ISSR markers. A total of 136 scorable bands were detected using 10 ISSR primers among 71
accessions belonging to 6 species, out of which 135 were
polymorphic (99.3 %), with an average of 13.5 polymorphic
fragments per primer, whereas iPBS detected 130 bands with
100 % polymorphism with an average of 13.0 bands per
primer. C. echinospermum and C. pinnatifidum were the most
diverse among species, whereas C. arietinum exhibited lower
polymorphism. The average polymorphism information contents (PIC) value for both marker systems was 0.91. The
clustering of the accessions and species within groups was
almost similar, when iPBS and ISSR NeighborNet (NNet)
planar graphs were compared. Further detailed studies are
indispensable in order to collect Cicer germplasm, especially
C. reticulatum, from southeastern Turkey particularly, from
Karacadağ Mountain for preservation, management of this
species, and to study their genetic diversity at molecular level.
This study also demonstrates the utility and role of iPBSretrotransposons, a dominant and ubiquitous part of eukaryotic genomes, for diversity studies in wild chickpea and in
cultivated chickpea.
