Study on the Genetic Diversity of Ascochyta rabiei Isolates, Cause of Chikpea Blight Disease in Lorestan Province Using SSR Marker

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Former MSc. Student, University of Zabol, Iran

2 Assistant Professor, University of Zabol, Iran

3 Professor, University College of Agriculture and Natural Resourses, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran

4 Assistant Professor, University of Gorgan,Gorgan, Iran

5 Associate Professors, University of Zabol, Iran

Abstract

Ascochyta blight caused by Ascochyta rabiei is one of the most destructive diseases
affecting chickpea (Cicer arietinum). To study the genetic diversity of the fungus, fifty three
isolates were rendomly collected from chikpea fields in eight different regions of Lorestan
Province namely Azna, Aleshtar, Broujerd, Poldokhtar, Chegeni, Khoorramabad, Koohdasht,
Noorabad.The isolates were cultured and purified on specific chickpea seed meal dextrose agar
medium. Genetic diversity among the population was assayed, employing SSR marker and
using five specific primer pairs. Similarity of the isolates was determined using Dice's
coefficient and UPGMA clustering method. Cluster analysis of data revealed that isolates with
genetic similarity distance equal to 3% were placed in 9 distinct genetic groups. PCoA analysis
of data was done employing Jaccard similarity matrix in NTSYS software. According to the
acquired data, from among 53 components, 15 components stood within an Eigenvalue greater
than 1 with 90.49 % of variation being justified. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA)
revealed the highest genetic variation (96%) within populations while distributed among
populations by 4%.The results finally indicated that there is considerable genetic diversity
among and between the isolates collected from different regions of the province.

Keywords