Scot molecular markers and population differentiation in Hedera helix L.

Abstract

Hedera helix L. is a specie that is used for its ornamental and medicinal properties widely. In spite of its very good biochemical characterization, the knowledge about the DNA variability is very limited and no DNA markers were used to analyses the genomic variability of the populations, up to date. In the present study, genetic diversity of 56 Hedera helix, individuals nine populations were studied using 10 Start Codon Targeted (SCoT) markers. High polymorphic bands (95.78%), polymorphic information content (0.25) and allele number (1.34) showed SCoT as a reliable marker system for genetic analysis in Hedera helix. At the species, the percentage of polymorphic loci [P] was 66.20%, Nei?s gene diversity [H] was 0.159, Shannon index [I] was 0.148 and unbiased gene diversity [UHe] was 0.56. Genetic variation within populations (70%) was higher than among populations (30%) based on analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA). We used SCoT molecular marker for our genetic investigation with the following aims: 1- Investigate genetic diversity both among and with date Hedera helix, 2-Identify genetic groups within these nine populations ivy, and 3-produce data on the genetic structure of date ivy populations. The results obtained revealed a high within-population genetic variability.