Evaluating Genetic Affinities in Pisum sativum Cultivars through SCoT and ISSR Marker

Abstract

Abstract

A study was conducted to examine the genetic relationships of eight pea cultivars, including four local and four introduced cultivars, used in commercial production under an irrigated farming system in Libya.. The cultivars were analyzed using PCR-based techniques to assess genetic diversity. Seven Start Codon Targeted (SCoT) markers and five Inter-Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR) markers were employed. These primers revealed several polymorphic genetic bands with varying molecular weights. The SCoT markers generated 54 genetic bands, averaging 7.71 bands per primer, while the ISSR markers produced 35 genetic bands, with an average of 7 bands per primer. The genetic diversity for SCoT markers was 0.29, while ISSR markers showed a diversity of 0.31. The polymorphic information content (PIC) was relatively low, with an average of 23.0% for SCoT and 24% for ISSR. The dendrogram analysis revealed that the four local cultivars formed a distinct subgroup, closely related due to their genetic proximity. The high similarity indices suggest that the local pea plant populations share a strong genetic relationship, which may be a result of hybridization and the genetic closeness of their parent lines.