Identification of informative markers of agronomic traits in different ecotypes of sand plantain (Plantago psyllium)

Abstract

To investigate the relationships between agronomic traits and molecular markers in sand plantain (Plantago psyllium), a set of 17 ecotypes collected in Iran were evaluated. Twelve ISSR primers were tested through multiple regression analysis to identify the marker-trait association between ISSR data and agronomic traits. Finally, the 12 primers amplified 129 fragments (loci) among ecotypes: 91 fragments (70.54%) of the 129 fragments showed polymorphism with an average of 7.58% per primer and the rate of this polymorphism ranged from at least 57.14% for UBC824 primer up to 54.62% for UBC813 primer. Polymorphic information content ranged from 0.27 (UBC814) to 0.41 (UBC813), with an average of 0.36. Stepwise regression analysis between the molecular data as independent variables and the studied traits as dependent variables was performed to identify informative markers associated with the agronomic traits. Seventy ISSR fragments were found associated with eight morphological traits. Some of ISSR markers were associated with more than one trait in multiple regression analysis that may be due to the pleiotropic effect of the linked quantitative trait locus on different traits or is linkage of different genes. However, for a better understanding of these relationships, preparation of a segregating population and linkage mapping are necessary. Also, these result could be useful in marker-assisted breeding programmes when no other genetic information is available.