Comparison of ISSR and AFLP markers in assessing genetic diversity among Nettle (Uritica dioica L.) populations

Nettle (Urtica dioica L.) is an important medicinal plant which is widely distributed in Mazandaran province North of Iran. In this study, Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP) and Inter-Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR) markers were used for detection of genetic polymorphism in Mazandaran nettle. Ten AFLP primer combinations and seventeen ISSR markers were utilized. AFLP produced 830 scorable bands out of which 90.21% were polymorphic. ISSR primers amplified 234 bands out of which 181 bands were being polymorphic (77.3%) and average heterozygosity for AFLP and ISSR markers were 0.25 and 0.23, respectively. Marker Index obtains 22.25 for AFLP and 15.57 for ISSR. The number of clusters computed was the same for both molecular markers, with different sample composition. In total, the comparison of two marker systems showed AFLP marker can be useful tool for detection of U. dioica genetic diversity.

Keywords:

Genetic variation , Medicinal plant , Molecular markers