Genetic finger printing of cotton cultivars by ISSR molecular markers

Farahani F., M. Sheidai, F. Koohdar (2018): Genetic finger printing of cotton cultivars by ISSR molecular markers.Genetika, Vol 50, No.2, 627-634. Gossypium hirsutum is one of the main tetraploid cotton species that is cultivated throughout the world. Due to continuous selection of cotton cultivars for specific agronomic traits, the genetic variability within the cultivars decrease that lead to genetic erosion. To tackle the problem of reduced genetic variability, we should track all available genetic diversity within cotton germplasm and use them for inter-specific and intra-specific hybridization and produce new elite cotton cultivars. Therefore, the present study used ISSR molecular markers to illustrate genetic variability in 13 tetraploid cotton genotypes (Gossypium hirsutum L.) and to categorize these genotypes based on genetic affinity. 65 cotton plants were studied. The results identified private bands in the studied genotypes, while Network and STRUCTURE analyses of molecular data obtained grouped the genotypes with genetic affinity together. Some of the genotypes differed in their genetic content from the others; therefore, studying the genetic and agronomic variability within available cultivars is very important and produced data to broaden the gene pool for planning further hybridization in cotton.