Agro-morphological traits and iPBS-ISSR markers based genetic characterization of flax genotypes (Linum usitatissimum L.)

Abstract Flax is one of the significant crops owing to oilseed and fibre attributes, exhibiting a wide distribution in many parts of the world. The present study was designed to reveal the genetic diversity of 29 genotypes of flax through morphological traits and 12 iPBS and 33 ISSR markers. According to the UPGMA-based dendogram, genotypes of the flax were classified into the two major groups (A and B) and group B was composed of two sub-groups (B1 and B2) according to the six phenotypic attributes considered for analysis. Concerning molecular relationships of the genotypes, individual and combined UPGMA-based dendograms were constructed with respect to the ISSR and iPBS markers. According to the Jaccard similarity coefficients for ISSR data, flax genotypes were divided into two main groups (A and B) and the “Van-1” genotype was in group A alone. Also, group B was divided into two separate subgroups. “Afyon-1” and “İzmir-Kemeraltı” genotypes were located in group B1, while all the remaining genotypes were located in group B2. In addition, the average genetic similarity was 0.755 regarding the findings of iPBS-retrotsposon markers, flax genotypes were classified into two main groups (A and B), and these main groups formed two subgroups among themselves. While “Konya-1” is located alone in A1 subgroup, “Iğdır”, “İzmir-Kemeraltı”, “Mardin”, “Bitlis” and “Afyon-1” genotypes are located in A2 subgroup. While “Van-1” genotype was located in the B2 subgroup alone, other genotypes were found in the B2 subgroup. The average genetic similarity was determined as 0.578 according to Jaccard binary similarity coefficient. According to the combined data of two markers, two separate groups (A and B) were revealed, similar to the dendrogram constructed with ISSR data. “Van-1” genotype was located in group A alone. Group B was divided into two subgroups (B1 and B2). The average genetic similarity was 0.722 according to the Jaccard similarity coefficient of matrix.