Efficiency of RAPD and ISSR markers in Assessing Genetic Variation in Arthrocnemum macrostachyum (Chenopodiaceae)

The goal of this study was to investigate the molecular characterization of A. macrostachyum genotypes grown in the Western coast of Syria using RAPD and ISSR techniques. PCR amplifications with 20 RAPD primers gave an average of 9.25 selected markers/primer, with a maximum of 17 (OPG05) and a minimum of four (OPA02). Percentage of polymorphic bands ranged from 40 to 100% according to RAPD primers tested. Among the 185 selected bands, 160 (84.96%) were polymorphic. The amplification with seven ISSR primers generated 88 bands, and 80 (90.91%) were polymorphic. (CA)(8)RG and (AG)(8)GTG ISSR primers tested in this study yielded highly informative patterns. RAPD and ISSR fragment sizes ranged from 0.2-3 kb. Based on this study, the use of RAPD and ISSR fingerprints could be a powerful tool to assess the genetic diversity in A. macrostachyum. Both the techniques gave similar results regarding the degree of relatedness among the genotypes tested, with genotype 2 being suggested to represent a distinct subspecies from that of genotypes 1 and 3.