Before roses became the most popular garden plant, they were used for their petals as a source of perfume. Among the many rose species, Rosa damascena Mill. is the most important species for rose oil production. Iran has a large cultivation area of Damask rose (more than 7000 hectares) and potentially represents a rich gene pool of this species. To explore the potential diversity and relationships of this germplasm with some Damask rose cultivars and rose species, 41 Damask rose genotypes with 5 different geographical origins of Iran, 2 Damask roses from Bulgaria and 12 old rose genotypes were analyzed using 38 SSR (simple sequence repeats) markers. A total of 255 alleles were detected with the average number of 6.71 alleles per locus. Cluster analysis of similarity values using unweighted pair group method separated samples into 18 groups, among them 14 consisted of unique genotypes. The Bulgarian genotypes and Autumn Damask rose grouped with the majority of native genotypes in the main cluster. The 38 SSR loci successfully separated diverse Iranian Damask rose genotypes from the old rose samples. The closest species to R. damascena was Rosa alba followed by R. centifolia and R. moschata in the cluster. The wide genetic variation of Damask roses in Iran indicates a rich source of germplasm for varietal improvement of oil-bearing roses.

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