Wild rose species were collected from different regions of Iran for a rose breeding programme. They included accessions from Rosa persica, R. foetida, R. pimpinellifolia, R. hemisphaerica, R. canina, R. iberica, R. damascena, R.beggeriana, and R. orientalis. Ten microsatellite (simple sequence repeat; SSR) markers were used to analyse the genetic variation among these rose species. The SSR markers amplified alleles in all species, even if they were from different sections within the genus. An unweighted pair group method cluster analysis (UPGMA) based on similarity values revealed five main Groups. The data showed no support for any distinction between R. canina and R. iberica, as all the accessions were placed in one Group, and accessions of these two species were more closely-related to each other within a Province than to accessions of the same species in other Provinces. Accessions of sect. Pimpinellifoliae were combined with plants from sect. Rosa and Cinnamomeae in two different Groups. Genetically, R. persica clustered distinctly from all others, with few alleles shared with the other taxa.We discuss the use of SSR markers for phylogenetic analysis when these markers are amplified in all species of a genus.

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