Inter Simple Sequence Repeat Data Reveals the Physical Characteristics of Helleborus

Helleborus is an evergreen plant belongs to Ranunculaceae, it is commonly known as "Christmas Rose", "Winter Rose" and "Lenten Rose". ISSR markers are highly polymorphic and are useful in studies on genetic diversity, phylogeny, gene tagging, genome mapping and evolutionary biology. We conducted a characteristic investigation and inter simple sequence repeat analysis for use as breeding parents through the classification of 17 Helleborus germplasm. In the present study, we used 100 ISSR primers for genetic diversity analysis of Helleborus, and 16 produced highly polymorphic DNA fragments. As per  results, sixteen primers ((AG)₈T, (GA)₈T, (GA)₈C, (CT)₈A, (CT)₈G , (GA)₈YT, (GA)₈YC, (CT)₈RC, (CA)₈RT, (GT)₈YC, (TC)₈RA, (TC)₈RT, (AC)₈YG, (TG)₈RT, (CTTCA)₃ and (GGAGA)₃) generated 100% polymorphic patterns in tested 17 Helleborus germplasm. Nei's genetic diversity and Shannon's information index had their highest value in primer (CA)₈RT as 0.400 and 0.581, respectively, and the lowest value in primer (CTTCA)₃ as 0.199 and 0.377, respectively. Based on acquired genotypes of 16 ISSR primers, we analyzed the genetic relationship of 17 Helleborus germplasm, and the tested germplasm was classified into three groups at genetic distance value of 0.22. Based on these we results suggested that valid guidelines for the collection and conservation of Helleborus genetic resources.