Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) has been cultivated from ancient times for its economic, ornamental and medicinal properties globally. Here, we report the isolation and characterization of 12 polymorphic microsatellite markers from a repeat-enriched genomic library of Punica granatum L. The genetic diversity of these loci was assessed in 60 genotypes of Punica granatum L. All loci were variable: the number of polymorphic alleles per locus ranged from two to five (average 2.9). The observed and expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.15 to 0.87 and 0.29 to 0.65, respectively. The polymorphic information content ranged from 0.26 to 0.61 (average: 0.43). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that polymorphic microsatellite markers have been reported for P. granatum L. These new markers should allow studies of the population structure and genetic diversity of pomegranate to be performed in the future.

To evaluate the genetic background of quantitative criteria of drought tolerance in wheat, six generations of a cross between the varieties of Plainsman and Cappelle Desprez were grown in a randomized complete block design with three replications in the greenhouse of the College of Agriculture of the University of Tehran in 1997.Genetic variation was found for yield potential (Yp), stressed yield (Ys), excised leaf water retention (ELWR), relative water loss (RWL), relative water content (RWC) and harvest index (HI) under water stress conditions.High heterosis and heterobeltiosis were observed in the F 1 hybrid for Ys, HI and spike yield index (SYI). Genetic analysis exhibited overdominance in the inheritance of Ys, RWL, ELWR, HI, biomass and SYI, while RWC and Yp were controlled by the additive type of gene action. High narrow-sense heritability estimates were shown by ELWR, biomass and SYI. The high genetic advance for ELWR, RWC, HI and SYI indicated that direct selection could be effective for these traits. The epistatic effects (additive × additive=[i] for Yp, Ys and RWL, additive × dominance=[j] for ELWR, and dominance × dominance =[l] for RWL) were found to be outstanding.

Aegilops tauschii Coss. is a diploid (2n = 2x = 14,DD) goat grass species which has contributed the D genome in common wheat. Genetic variations in 28 accessions of Aegilops tauschii belonged to different provinces of Iran, were evaluated using 16 morphological traits and 19 SSR markers. In number of spikelet per spike and plant height, there was a high variation in ssp. tauschii and ssp. strangulata respectively and for days to mature a low variation in both subspecies was found. Discriminant function analysis showed that 67.9% of original grouped cases correctly classified. Factor analysis indicated that three factor explain 66.49% of total variation. The three clusters revealed by the cluster analysis were not consistent with their geographical distributions. We determined 208 alleles using 19 microsatellites. Average of alleles for every locus was 10.94. The total average of PIC was 0.267. 2261 bands produced for total of genotypes and Chinese Spring had the highest bands (95 alleles). The range of similarity coefficients was between 0.23 and 0.73. Genotypes were clustered using UPGMA method. The accessions did not match according to morphological cluster and geographical regions. 51.2% of total variations were related to 9 principle components.

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