Population Differentiation and Gene Flow of Salicornia persica Akhani (Chenopodiaceae)

The genus Salicornia (Amaranthaceae) was established by Linnaeus. Commonly known as ‘glassworts’, the species of the genus are articulated succulent herbs with cortical palisade, opposite decussate scale-leaves, thyrsoid cymes, flowers packed in cauline depressions and the diaspore composed of l-seeded utricle. Therefore, due to the importance of the plant species, we performed a combination of morphological and molecular data analyses on this species. A total of 72 randomly collected plants from 8 natural populations in 2 provinces were evaluated using ISSR markers and morphological traits. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) test revealed significant genetic difference among the studied populations, and also showed that 45% of total genetic variability was due to the diversity within the population, while 55% was due to the genetic differentiation among populations. A total number of 158 bands were detected by ISSR primers, of which 144 (89%) bands with an average of 14.4 bands per primer were polymorphic. The Percentage of Polymorphic Bands (PPB) ranged from 70% (ISSR-7) to 100% (ISSR-1, ISSR-4 and ISSR-5). The average Polymorphic Information Content (PIC), Shannon’s Information index (I), and Number of effective alleles (Ne) were 0.49, 0.28, and 1.09, respectively.