R Mollaheydari Bafghi - Department of Plant Breeding, Graduate University of Advanced Technology
A Baghizadeh - Department of Biotechnology, Institute of Sciences and High Technology and EnvironmentalSciences, Graduate University of Advanced Technology, Kerman-Iran
Gh Mohammadi-Nejad - Department of Agronomy and plant Breeding, College of Agriculture and Center ofExcellence for Abiotic Stress in Cereal Crop., Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman-Iran

In this study, genetic diversity of 20 wheat genotypes was evaluated using 126 simple sequence repeats (SSR)alleles, covering all three wheat genomes. A total of 1557 allelic variants were detected for 126 SSR loci. Thenumber of alleles per locus ranged from 4 to 19 and the allelic polymorphism information content (PIC)varied from 0.66 (Xgwm429) to 0.94 (Xgwm212 and Xgwm515). The highest polymorphism was observed inXgwm212 and Xgwm515 primers with 19 alleles, while the lowest polymorphism belonged to Xgwm429 with4 alleles. The highest number of alleles per locus was detected in the genome A with 594 , compared to 552and 411 for B and D genomes, respectively. Dendrogram was constructed using Dice similarity coefficientand UPGMA algorithm by NTSYSpc2.0 software and genotypes were grouped in to six clusters. Theknowledge about the genetic relationships of genotypes provides useful information to address breedingprograms and germplasm resource management. This study also confirms the usefulness of SSR markers tostudy wheat genetic diversity

Genetic diversity, Microsatellite markers, Polymorphism, Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)