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Abstract-Brain shrimp Artemia can tolerate different range of ecologic conditions. This animal is also known because of high nutrition value and special application in research. The species of Artemia franciscana found endemically on American continent, but recently it has been reported from Mahalru Lake, Iran. Due to differences between ecological conditions of Maharlu Lake with originally habitat of A. franciscana, Great Salt Lake, and taking to account the 10 years successful existence of this species in the lake, be believe that this species has adapted to new environment genetically. Given the fact that any kind of adaption can endanger endemic Maharlu parthenogenetic Artemia, in present study genetically differentiation between two populations of A. franciscana, before and after migration to new environment was studied. The study was conducted on structure of two important genes as COI and HSP26 using RCP-RFLP method. Successful digestion of the 700bp fragment of COI gene by two endonucleases enzymes, TaqI and EcoRI in addition to the digestion of 217bp fragment by Eco471 revealed genetic variation between two populations. The 7 generated specific haplotypes genetic distance of D=0.18 between the populations. According to the results and also successful residence of A. franciscana in Maharlu Lake, given the fact of high production performance of A. franciscana it is believed that the settler Artemia can be account as Iranian Artemia populations which will threaten existence of endemic parthenogenetic Artemia population in the lake.

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Analysis of genetic diversity of Fusarium verticillioides populations concludes different levels of information in management of crown and root rot disease in corn farms. Simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers were used to determine genetic structure and estimate genetic diversity in 77 F. verticillioides isolates from major producing areas in Ilam province, Iran such as: Dehloran, Mosiyan, Dasht Abas, Mehran, Eivan, Holeylan and Darreh Shahr during 2016 - 2017. Nine microsatellite (SSR) primer pairs revealed that the average number of alleles in populations were 34, the number of alleles in populations varied from 27 alleles in Dehloran and Mosiyan as the lowest to 40 alleles in Darreh shahr as the highest. Observed alleles (N_a) number and effective number of alleles (N_e) were higher in Mehran (N_a = 1.860; N_e = 1.463) compared to other populations. The genetic diversity (H_e) was higher in Holeylan (H_e = 0.284) and Shannon's information index (I) was also higher in Mehran (I = 0.436) but lower values were estimated for Mosiyan (H_e = 0.195; I = 0.303). The lowest genetic distance was found between Dehloran and Mosiyan (0.013) while the highest genetic distance was revealed between Dehloran and Darehshahr (0.139). Total gene diversity (H_t) and gene diversities between subpopulations (H_s) were estimated at 0.292 and 0.249 respectively. Gene diversity attributable to differentiation among populations (G_st) was 0.147, while gene flow (N_m) was 2.890. Cluster analysis based on UPGMA showed the lowest genetic distance between Dehloran and Mosiyan and then Dasht abas. The dendrogram indicated a high genetic distance between Darehshahr and the six remaining populations. Results from this study will be useful in breeding program of crown and root rot resistant cultivars and developing control methods for this disease. 

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Progress in plant breeding requires a broad genetic basis. Knowledge of genetic diversity in cultivated species and their wild relatives is of critical importance for breeding purposes. The red clover, T. pratense,grows wildly in Iran in a vast range of habitats, mainly along the Zagros and Alborz Mountains. Despite being economically important in many other countries, information regarding the genetic diversity of this species in Iran is significantly lacking. In this study, the genetic diversity of 56 genotypes of red clover collected from Iran and one genotype of T. diffusum, used as outgroup, was evaluated using nine SRAP markers. The nine SRAP primer combinations created a total of 294 bands from DNA of 57 genotypes, from which 291 (98.9%) were polymorphic. All the measured parameters showed significantly high genetic diversity in the Iranian genepool of T. pratense with no clear geographic partitioning of genotypes. However, genotypes collected from around Tehran, Isfahan, and Kermanshah-Hamedan were loosely clustered with their co-regional genotypes. Based on the results of the STRUCTURE analysis, genotypes were genetically divided into two clusters, but these were not correlated with the eco-geographical groups. There was no correlation between genetic distance and geographic distance of genotypes. The result of this study showed value in sampling the Iranian genepool of the red clover, with the Western and the Northwestern genepools in more depth, for conservation and breeding purposes.

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As the diploid progenitor of common wheat, Aegilops tauschii is used as a genetic resource for improving common wheat. In this study, the genetic differentiation index between Yellow River (Shaanxi and Henan) and Xinjiang groups (0.322, 0.377) were obviously higher than between the former and Central Asia groups (0.231, 0.289). Meanwhile, the genetic distances between Yellow River (Shaanxi and Henan) and Xinjiang groups (0.285, 0.329) exhibit larger values compared with those between the former and Central Asia groups (0.283, 0.321). These results reveal that the genetic constitution of Yellow River and Central Asia groups is of more similarity compared with Xinjiang group. The phylogenetic tree demonstrates that Ae. tauschii in Yellow River and part of that in Central Asia are firstly gathered to be a subset. Then the subset and Xinjiang group are classified into a clade, which could be assigned to Central Asia and Middle East populations, implying that Ae. tauschii in Yellow River has a closer relationship with part of that in Central Asia compared with Xinjiang. Our finding further clarifies that Ae. tauschii in Yellow River might be directly derived from one/several types from Central Asia such as Turkmenistan, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.
 

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Chickpea wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceris is one of the major yield-limiting factors in chickpea, particularly in west and northwest of Iran. Simple Sequence Repeats (SSR) were used to determine genetic structure of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceris populations from three infected areas located in west and northwest provinces of Iran during 2016-2017. A set of six microsatellite primer pairs revealed 35 alleles in each locus with an average of 5.83 per locus. The PIC value varied from 0.20 (FOAG11) to 0.39 (FODF7) with an average of 0.27 per locus. The average number of effective alleles (N_e), Number of private alleles (N_a), allelic variability per locus (H), Shannon's Information Index (I) and percentage of Polymorphic Loci (%PL) in three populations were 1.33, 1.97, 0.2208, 0.357, and 74.29, respectively. The average genetic distance was calculated among the three populations. Nei’s pair-wise genetic distances between the populations varied from 0.0202 to 0.98. The total gene diversity (H_t) and gene diversities between subpopulations (H_s) were estimated to be 0.2208 and 0.2079, respectively. Gene diversity attributable to differentiation among populations (G_st) was 0.0585, while gene flow (N_m) was 8.0412. The AMOVA of genetic variation in Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceris populations revealed that 5% of the variance occurred among populations and 95% within populations. PhiPT value was 0.054. The lowest genetic distance was found between Kurdistan and West Azerbaijan with Lorestan populations, while the highest genetic distance was observed between Lorestan and Kermanshah populations.

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Larvae of numerous Noctuidae and Nolidae species have significant annual economic losses in agriculture. DNA-based diagnostics have been proposed as an effective way to accelerate the identification and discovery of new species. This study aimed to determine the utility of up to 642 bp Cytochrome c Oxidase subunit I (COI) barcodes for identifying 12 major Iranian Noctuidae and Nolidae crop pests and confirming morphological identifications based on classical taxonomy. We combined molecular and morphological analysis to identify 53 specimens collected from populations throughout Iran. The results indicated the presence of a distinct barcode gap for different pest species. The mean interspecific sequence divergence (Kimura 2-parameter) was an order of magnitude (10.0%) greater than the mean intraspecific sequence divergence (0.29%). This combination of DNA and morphological analyses identified 13 species, one of which was previously unknown and may represent a new previously overlooked Earias species. There were no, or very few, sequences from Iran in international databases for some of the test species. Here, we increase the number of specimens from Iran and aid in taxonomic interpretation. The current study will aid in the identification of the most common Noctuidae and Nolidae major pest species in Iran, regardless of the observer’s taxonomic skills, developmental stage of the vouchers, as well as sex, or insect preservation condition. Our data enables researchers and practitioners involved in the bio-surveillance of insect pests to identify taxa based on simple DNA sequence comparisons quickly. DNA barcoding in conjunction with morphological identifications can provide secondary evidence supporting morphological identifications and improve taxonomic resolution.