THE COMPOSITION OF STRATEGY TO PROTECT THE WILD SPECIES OF ALMOND (PRUNUS SCOPARIA) USING THE GEOGRAPHIC AND MOLECULAR DATA

In order to protect the program genetic resources, spatial and non-spatial distributions evaluation of genetic diversity is considered as one of the most important measures. Prunus scoparia is one the important species of Iran in the terms of economy and ecology. In this study, 36 polymorphic microsatellite markers (SSR markers) in evaluating genetic diversity and genetic structure of 158 samples from 12 populations of “P. scoparia” were used. The SSR markers have showed almost high genetic diversity (Na= 6/47, Ho= 0/603 and He= 0/737). According to the genetic differentiation coefficient, the genetic diversity in the populations (56/12 %) was higher than genetic diversity between the populations (43/88 %). The phylogenetic network (Neighbor-net) divided people into two major clusters. In addition, according to the analysis results of STRUCTURE it was suggested that studied “P. scoparia” populations are located into two major populations and 12 subpopulations. The comparison of these results with GENELAND showed relatively similar results in populations classification and the genetic relationships between the populations. It is worth noting that in the analysis of GENELAND, some of populations with similar genetic field were assigned in a geographical area. The application of GIS data and an appropriate number of microsatellite markers (SSR markers) provide the possibility of prioritizing areas of distribution in order to protect them in and out of the natural environment. Also, modeling the species distribution provides comprehensive information in the field of strategies to protect these valuable relative species of almond.