Abstract
In current study, genetic relationship between some Acacia species tree grown in Taif governorate using inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) marker and in vitro propagation of Acacia jonwoodii were investigated. Concerning ISSR analysis, a total of 60 reproducible bands were yielded with an average 7.5 fragments/primer, the bands size ranged from 150 to 1500 bp. The total number of poly-morphic bands 48 ranged from 4 (primer 834-2 and primer 842) to 9 (primer 817) with an average of 6 poly-morphic bands/primer, whereas the total number of mono-morphic bands (NMB) were 12 bands. The results indicated that the percentage of poly-morphic bands (PB %) ranged from 66.7% (primer 818) to 100% (primer 841-2) with an average 80.13 %. This means that ISSR analysis revealed high genetic variation between five Acacia species. For in vitro propagation of A. jonwoodii, the highest average number of shoot/explants 10 was noticed on MS medium augmented with 2.5 mg/l of 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP). The highest average number of shoots produced roots 12 with average number 1.7 (roots/shoot) and average percentage 40 % were resulted in half strength MS medium containing 3 mg/l of Indole-3-butyric acid (IBA). The results indicated that ISSR marker have been successfully applied for studying the genetic relationship between five Acacia species and a reliable protocol for in vitro propagation of A. jonwoodii were established that could be helpful tools for plant breeding programs and for plant preservation.