Detection of genetic diversity and population structure in Iranian hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.) using Start Codon Targeted markers and phytochemical characteristics

Abstract

Corylus avellana L. is one of the valuable nuts of the world, which grows wild in the natural forests of Fandoguloo in Ardabil province of Iran and has a high diversity in this region. To evaluate the genetic diversity within and between populations, 78 genotypes from different regions of Iran, including Ardabil, Arasbaran, and Miyaneh, were analyzed using targeted start codon polymorphism (SCoT) method. Also, phytochemical traits of C. avellana, such as Ash,Taxol, Total phenol, Palmitic acid, Fibre, Palmitoleic acid, carbohydrate, Stearic acid, avonoid, Oleic acid, Linoleic acid, Fat, Antioxidant compounds, and ethanolic phenol were evaluated. The result indicated that, from the 15 SCoT primrs used, the genotypes contained 165 polymorphic bands with the highest and lowest Polymorphic Information Content related to SC3 and SC21, respectively. The Marker index (MI) for the primer sets varied from 2.6 to 6.1. The highest allele frequency was related to the Ardabil population. Also, 100% polymorphism rate was obtained from all primers studied. The highest polymorphic rates corresponded to the primers SC21, SC20, SC5 (14 bands), with SC9 showing the most uniformity (six bands) among the populations. The gene ow between and within populations was 0.4 and 0.7, respectively, and the stabilization index was 0.4. The current research showed the effectiveness of the SCoT marker to estimate the genetic diversity of C. avellana, which can be considered as a starting point for further study on the population and evolutionary genetics of this economically important species.