Microsatellite analysis of Aegilops tauschii germplasm

The highly polymorphic diploid grass Aegilogs tauschii is the D-genome dono r to hexaploid wheat and represents a potential source for bread wheat impr ovement. In the present study microsatellite markers were used for germplas m analysis and estimation of the genetic relationship between 113 accession s of Ae. tauschii From the gene bank collection at IPK, Gatersleben. Eighte en microsatellite markers, developed from Triticum aestivum and Ae. tauschi i sequences, were selected for the analysis. All microsatellite markers sho wed a high level of polymorphism. The number of alleles per microsatellite marker varied from 11 to 25 and a total of 338 alleles were detected. The n umber of alleles per locus in cultivated bread wheat germplasm had previous ly been found to be significantly lower. The highest levels of genetic dive rsity for microsatellite markers were found in accessions from the Caucasia n countries (Georgia, Armenia and the Daghestan region of Russia) and the l owest in accessions from the Central Asian countries (Uzbekistan and Turkme nistan). Genetic dissimilarity values between accessions were used to produ ce a dendrogram of the relationships among the accessions. The result showe d that all of the accessions could be distinguished and clustered into two large groups in accordance with their subspecies taxonomic classification. The pattern of clustering of the Ae. tauschii accessions is according to th eir geographic distribution. The data suggest that a relatively small numbe r of microsatellites can be used to estimate genetic diversity in the germp lasm of Ae. tauschii and confirm the good suitability of microsatellite mar kers for the analysis of germplasm collections.