Evaluation of genetic diversity among some commercial cultivars and wild Iranian strains of Agaricus bisporus by microsatellite markers

Agaricus bisporus is the most widely cultivated mushroom in Iran. Lack of diversity in mushroom crops especially where disease is concerned, creates a crucial risk in the currently grown cultivars. The aim of this study was to assess the genetic diversity among Iranian wild strains and some commercial cultivars by using microsatellite markers. Eighteen codominant microsatellite markers of A. bisporus (AbSSR) were used to distinguish 17 wild and commercial strains. All the microsatellite markers used in this research gave clear banding patterns and only one strain remained undistinguished. Among 106 generated alleles the wild subgroup presented 53 alleles never found both in brown and white commercial cultivars and 42 alleles never found in commercial brown strains. The dendrogram obtained by UPGMA clustering analysis separated A.bisporus strains into six groups. Based on our results, the high level of genetic diversity among Iranian wild strains, compared with the commercial strains, provides a new and promising source of diversity for A. bisporus breeding programs. To our knowledge this is the first relevant study of biodiversity in native Iranian populations of A. bisporus.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author