Genetic diversity of some Saudi barley (<i>Hordeum Vulgare</i> L.) landraces based on microsatellite markers

Abstract

Assessment of the genetic variability within barley landraces is  fundamental for barley breeding. In this study, 16 simple sequence repeats (SSRs) markers were used to characterize selected six barley landraces from different cultivated regions in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) (Gizan, Bahah, Taif, Asser, Qassem and Hail). Amplification of SSRs loci were obtained for 15 primer pairs and only seven among them showed clear polymorphic patterns. These seven primers produce total of 16  alleles with scorable fragment size ranging from approximately 100 to 275  bp. The number of alleles per marker ranged from 1 to 3 with an average of 2.29 alleles per locus. The data generated by these seven primers were sufficient to discriminate the analyzed barley genotypes. Using the  unweighed pair-group method using arithmetic averages (UPGMA) cluster analysis, barley landraces were clustered together with respect to their  geographical location. These results could be used for barley germplasm management in terms of biodiversity protection and design of new crosses. The present results demonstrate that SSR markers were highly informative and were useful in generating a meaningful classification of barley germplasm.

Key words: Barley, landraces, genetic diversity, molecular markers, microsatellite simple sequence repeat (SSR).