Genetic relationship of the winter barley varieties assessed by the inter-Primer Binding Site (iPBS) DNA profiling method

Winter barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) is an important crop with great impact on the nutrition of the world population. Many of the barley varieties used in industry are obtained from private and public seed collection organizations. Understanding the relationships among barley genotypes within these collections is crucial for breeding and maintenance. The objective of this study was to determine the genetic diversity in winter barley from the Kuban State Agrarian University collection by using DNA-profiling polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods based on a single primer complementary to the primer binding site (PBS) region downstream of the long terminal repeat (LTR) for retrotransposons. In total, 1293 PCR amplicons were identified, of which 646 were polymorphic. Barley genotypes from this collection were mainly divided into two populations based on their geographical origin. Analysis of Molecular Variance (AMOVA) results indicated a high level of genetic diversity among the barley genotypes (83%). Relationships of the studied barley genotypes and their ancestry were established using clustering and Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) analysis. The results of PCoA and clustering were similar and close genetic relationships of selected accessions were confirmed. Surprising results were obtained for Timofei and Vasya genotypes that are not supposed to be closely related, but were positioned together. Similar unexpected results were shown for Samson and Iosif varieties. Nevertheless, obtained data can be useful for planning of future crossing by breeders using distantly related crossing pairs.