%0 Journal Article
%T Microsatellite analysis of Damask rose (Rosa damascena Mill.) accessions from various regions in Iran reveals multiple genotypes
%A Alireza Babaei
%A Seyed Tabaei-Aghdaei
%A Morteza Khosh-Khui
%A Reza Omidbaigi
%A Mohammad Naghavi
%A Gerhard D Esselink
%A Marinus JM Smulders
%J BMC Plant Biology
%D 2007
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1471-2229-7-12
%X All microsatellite markers showed a high level of polymorphism (5¨C15 alleles per microsatellite marker, with an average of 9.11 alleles per locus). Cluster analysis of genetic similarities revealed that these microsatellites identified a total of nine different genotypes. The genotype from Isfahan province, which is the major production area, was by far the most common genotype (27/40 accessions). It was identical to the Bulgarian genotype. Other genotypes (each represented by 1¨C4 accessions) were collected from minor production areas in several provinces, notably in the mountainous Northwest of Iran.This is the first study that uncovered genetic diversity within Damask rose. Our results will guide new collection activities to establish larger collections and manage the Iranian Damask rose genetic resources. The genotypes identified here may be directly useful for breeding.There are almost 200 species and more than 18000 cultivars in the genus Rosa [1]. They are mostly shrubs, distributed in the temperate zones of the Northern hemisphere [2]. One of the important Rosa species is Rosa damascena Mill., which is commercially used for essential oil production and cultivated as garden rose [3]. In recent years, antioxidant, antibacterial and antimicrobial activities of R. damascena essential oil have been demonstrated [4-7]. Three recent studies on molecular analyses of genetic diversity of Rosa damascena Mill. with RAPD, AFLP and SSR markers did not show any polymorphism among R. damascena plants from various plantations in Turkey[8,9] and Bulgaria[3], indicating that commercial production of essential oil is in fact done by large scale propagation of only one or very few genotypes.R. damascena can now be found in the wild in Morocco, Andalusia, the Middle East, and the Caucasus. As Damask roses were originally introduced from the Middle East into Western Europe, it is thought that the origin and centre of diversity of Damask roses can be found in this region. In Iran,
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2229/7/12