Molecular phylogenetic among saffron (Crocus sativus L.) accessions from Iran, Spain and Turkey by SSR marker

Saffron (Crocus sativus L), considered the most expensive spice in the world, have been used both as a spice and as a drug ever since ancient time. This study aimed to access genetic diversity of 196 individuals representing 20 saffron accessions collected from different regions of Iran, Spain and Turkey. Twenty saffron accessions were collected from most ancient cultivation areas in Iran, Spain and Turkey and DNA was extracted and twenty two different primer combinations were used for analyzing genetic diversity. Amplified products were manually scored separately for each primer and different genetic diversity indices were calculated. Twenty two primers in simple sequence repeat marker amplified a total of 44 polymorphic bands with an average of 2.0. The genetic diversity and shannon's information index varied from 0.094 to 0.722 and 0.197 to 0.982, respectively. Average of polymorphism information content and genetic distance values were 0.402 and 0.291, respectively. Cluster analysis using Neighbor-Joining method divided the accessions into four groups. Utilizing principal coordinate analysis and analysis of molecular variance, significant heterogeneity was observed among accessions. The results confirmed that the SSR marker is useful for evaluation of genetic diversity among saffron accessions. Low genetic distance (average: 0.29) and low private bands (14%) among saffron accessions from different geographical regions (Iran, Spain and Turkey) could show the existence of narrow genetic background of saffron, as a result of vegetative propagation and human selection of superior genotypes.