Physiological and biochemical mechanisms of grain yield loss in fumitory (Fumaria parviflora Lam.) exposed to copper and drought stress.

Soil contamination with heavy metals adversely affects plants growth, development and metabolism in many parts of the world including arid and semi-arid regions. The aim of this study was to investigate the single and combined effects of drought and copper (Cu) stresses on seed yield, and biochemical traits of Fumaria parviflora in a split - factorial experiment at Research Field of Payam-E-Noor university of Kerman during 2019. The collected seeds from two Cu contaminated regions were evaluated under drought and Cu (0, 50, 150, 300, and 400 mg/kg) stresses. Drought stress levels were depletion of 50% (D1), 70% (D2) and 85% (D3) soil available water. The individual effects of drought and copper stresses were similar to each other as both reduced seed yield. The highest seed yield was observed at Cu concentration of 50 mg/kg under non-drought stress conditions. The maximum values of malondialdehyde (0.47 µmol/g), proline (2.45 µmol/g FW), total phenolics (188.99 mg GAE/g DW) and total flavonoids (22.1 mg QE/g DW) were observed at 400 mg/kg Cu treatment. However, the strongest antioxidant activity (83.95%) through DPPH assay, and the highest total soluble carbohydrate (115.23 mg/g DW) content were observed at 300 and 150 mg/kg Cu concentration under severe drought stress, respectively. The highest amount of anthocyanin (2.18 µmol/g FW) was observed at 300 mg/kg Cu and moderate drought stress. The findings of this study showed a high tolerance of F. parviflora plant to moderate drought stress and Cu exposure up to 150 mg/kg by modulating defense mechanisms, where grain yield was slightly lower than that of control. The results could also provide a criterion for the selection of tolerance species like F. parviflora for better acclimatization under Cu mines and/or agricultural contaminated soils subjected to drought stress.

Phytochemicals, Essential Oils Composition and Antioxidant Activity of Astragalus spp., Phlomis olivieri and Daphne mucronata in Habitats of Central Iran.

This study evaluated several secondary metabolites, essential oils (EOs) compositions, and antioxidant activity in four medicinal plants that originated in Isfahan rangelands. The species were Astragalus verus, Astragalus adscendens, Daphne mucronata, and Phlomis olivieri. Thirty-two genotypes of these species were evaluated for different biochemical traits. Based on the evaluation of EOs compounds, GC/MS analysis revealed the total number of identified compounds. These compounds were 25, 22, 12, and 22 for A. adscendens, A. verus, D. mucronata, and P. olivieri, respectively. The dominant compounds were phthalate (59.88 %) in A. adscendens, phytol (38.02 %) in A. verus, hexanoic acid (32.05 %) in D. mucronata and ß-cubebene (30.94 %) in P. olivieri. Phytochemical analysis showed that D. mucronata, A. adscendens, and P. olivieri had the highest total phenolics content (TPC) (18.24 mg gallic acid equivalent/g dry weight), total flavonoids content (5.57 mg QE/g DW), and total anthocyanins content (0.23 mg/g DW), respectively. The highest total chlorophyll (0.27 mg/g DW), total carotenoids (0.03 mg/g DW), and antioxidant activity (71.36 %) were observed in A. adscendens, A. adscendens and A. verus, respectively. Among all genotypes, the highest TPC (20.1 mg GAE/g DW) was observed in genotype 5 of D. mucronata. This study provided new information on the chemical compounds within the distribution range of these ecologically dominant rangeland species in Isfahan province, Iran. The data revealed that superior genotypes from these species are rich in natural antioxidants and bioactive compounds. Thus, they can be used in ethno pharmacological fields, food, and industrial applications.

Response of seed yield and biochemical traits of Eruca sativa Mill. to drought stress in a collection study.

Drought tolerance is a complex trait in plants that involves different biochemical mechanisms. During two years of study (2019-2020), the responses of 64 arugula genotypes to drought stress were evaluated in a randomized complete block design with three replications under field conditions. Several metabolic traits were evaluated, i.e. relative water content, photosynthetic pigments (chlorophyll and carotenoids), proline, malondialdehyde, enzymatic antioxidants (catalase, ascorbate peroxidase, and peroxidase), total phenolic and flavonoid contents and seed yield. On average, the drought stress significantly increased the proline content (24%), catalase (42%), peroxidase (60%) and malondialdehyde activities (116%) over the two years of study. As a result of the drought stress, the seed yield (18%), relative water content (19.5%) and amount of photosynthetic pigments (chlorophyll and carotenoids) dropped significantly. However, the total phenolic and flavonoid contents showed no significant changes. Under drought stress, the highest seed yields were seen in the G50, G57, G54, G55 and G60 genotypes, while the lowest value was observed in the G16 genotype (94 g plant-1). According to the findings, when compared to the drought-sensitive genotypes, the drought-tolerant arugula genotypes were marked with higher levels of proline accumulation and antioxidant enzyme activity. Correlation analysis indicated the positive effects of peroxidase, catalase and proline on seed yield under drought conditions. These traits can be considered for the selection of drought-tolerant genotypes in breeding programs.

Biochemical and phytochemical responses of Ammi visnaga L. (Apiaceae) callus culture elicited by SiO2 and graphene Oxide-SiO2 nanoparticles.

Ammi visnaga L. is an enriched medicinal plant with medicinally important compounds. Two types of nanoparticles (NPs) including silica (SiO2) and graphene oxide bound with SiO2 (GO-SiO2) NPs at different concentrations (0, 15, 25 mg L-1) were used as elicitors to investigate their effects on callus morphology, H2O2 content, total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoids content (TFC), ferric reducing/antioxidant power (FRAP), and few antioxidant enzymes such as catalase (CAT), guaiacol peroxidase (GPX), superoxide dismutase (SOD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), and polyphenol oxidase (PPO) in the callus cultures of A. visnaga. The effects of elicitation of both NPs on calli were observed using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The 15 mg L-1 concentration of GO-SiO2 NPs produced the highest TPC (193.3 mg GAE g-1 FW), CAT (13.1 U mg-1 Protein), GPX (0.0089 U mg-1 Protein), and APX (0.079 U mg-1 Protein). Whereas, the maximum content of H2O2 (0.68 µmol g-1 FW), FRAP (0.0092 µmol mg-1), and TFC (62.27 mg QE g-1 FW) was observed at 25 mg L-1 and 15 mg L-1 of SiO2 NPs, respectively. Conclusively, in the callus culture of A. visnaga, the 15 mg L-1 concentration of GO-SiO2 NPs was the most suitable dosage for enhancing the enzymatic antioxidant activities (CAT, GPX, APX) and TPC, rather than SiO2 NPs.

Effects of methyl jasmonate elicitation on the carvone and limonene contents, phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity in caraway (Carum carvi L.) callus cultures.

This study investigated the elicitation effects of several methyl jasmonate (MeJ) concentrations (0, 25, 50, and 100 µM) on various biochemical traits of caraway (Carum carvi L.) callus cultures. The 25 µM MeJ concentration yielded the highest callus growth rate (0.57 mm day-1), total flavonols content (2.58 mg QE g-1 FW) and total carotenoids content (0.04 µg g-1 FW), whereas the highest relative fresh weight (75.72%), total phenolics content (76.90 mg GAE g-1 FW), total flavonoids content (58.49 mg QE g-1 FW) and phenylalanine ammonia lyase activity (3.40 nmol cinnamic acid mg-1 h-1 FW) were obtained with the 50 µM MeJ concentration. The highest antioxidant activity through DPPH assay (8.37%) and malondialdehyde content (7.82 µmol g-1 FW) were observed at 100 µM MeJ. The HPLC conducted 21 days post-elicitation revealed a 5.55-fold increase of carvone accumulation (1.83 µg g-1 DW) at 50 µM MeJ and a 2.7-fold increase (0.62 µg g-1 DW) of limonene at 50 µM MeJ. The optimal dosages applied for carvone and limonene accumulation under MeJ elicitation could be used to scale up the economic production of these elite medicinal compounds through caraway callus cultures.

Selenium nanoparticles reduce Ce accumulation in grains and ameliorate yield attributes in mung bean (Vigna radiata) exposed to CeO2.

Exposure of crops to CeO2 nanoparticles (nCeO2) in agricultural environments impact crop quality and human health. In this regard, the effects of selenium nanoparticles (nSe) on the yield and quality of Vigna radiata (L.) exposed to nCeO2 were investigated. The experiment was carried out as a factorial with two factors: NPs (nCeO2, and nSe) as factor one and concentrations as factor two [(0, 250, 500 and 1000 mg/L nCeO2; 0, 25, 50 and 75 mg/L nSe)]. Nanoparticles were foliar applied to 45-day old mung bean shoot in two steps and one-week interval. At 250-1000 mg/L, nCeO2 increased P, protein and Ce accumulation in grain. Additionally, at 1000 mg/L, the nCeO2, significantly decreased seed number, yield, Fe, and Zn storage in seeds. Conversely, at 25 and 50 mg/L, nSe stimulated the growth and yield of mung bean, and significantly increased P, Fe, Zn, and Se in seeds, but reduced the protein content in seeds. The Se25+Ce250 and Se50+Ce250 significantly increased pod number, seed number, grain weight, yield, Fe, Zn and Se storage in grains. In contrast, the Ce accumulation in seeds decreased in all combination treatments (nCeO2 + nSe) compared to their respective single nCeO2 treatments. Moreover, in the plants exposed to high nCeO2 concentrations, nSe application resulted in undamaged vacuoles, less starch granules' accumulation, significant yield improvement, and elevated Fe, Se, and Zn in seeds. Data suggest that selenium nanoparticles prevent nCeO2 stress in mung bean and improve grain production and quality.

Barley metallothionein isoforms, MT2b2 and MT4, differentially respond to photohormones in barley aleurone layer and their recombinant forms show different affinity for binding to zinc and cadmium.

Metallothioneins (MTs) are metal-binding proteins that have important roles in the homeostasis of heavy metals. In this study, the two MT genes was studied in response to phytohormones using the barley aleurone layer as a kind of model system. The aleurone layer was isolated from barley embryo-less half grains and was incubated for 24 h with different phytohormones. Based on the results the genes encoding HvMT2b2 and HvMT4 were down-regulated through gibberellic acid (GA), while they were and up-regulated through salicylic acid (SA). Despite this, these two genes were differentially expressed to other hormones. Furthermore, the proteins HvMT2b2 and HvMT4 were heterologous expressed as GST-fusion proteins in E. coli. The HvMT4 and HvMT2b2 heterologous expression in E. coli gives rise to 10- and 3-fold improvements in the accumulation capacity for Zn2+, respectively. Whereas the transgenic E. coli strain that expresses HvMT2b2 could accumulate Cd2+ three-fold higher than control. The expression of HvMT4 did not affect the accumulation of Cd2+. HvMT4 which is known as seed-specific isoform seems to be able to bind to Zn2+ with good affinity and cannot bind Cd2+. In comparison, HvMT2b2 was able to bind both Zn2+ and Cd2+. Therefore HvMT4 could serve a noteworthy role in zinc storage in barley seeds. The expression of HvMT4 is induced by SA 30-fold, concerning the untreated aleurone layer. Such results could provide good insights for the assessment of the effects of phytohormones in the molecular mechanism involved in essential metal storage in cereal seeds.

Composition of the essential oil of different plant organs in Dorema ammoniacum D. Don and Dorema aucheri Boiss. accessions collected from Iran.

This study was performed to evaluate the chemical constituents of the essential oils (EOs) from the leaves and stems of different accessions of Dorema ammoniacum D. Don and Dorema aucheri Boiss. collected in Iran. Sesquiterpene hydrocarbons were identified as the major fractions in EOs of stem (65.58-87.48%) and leaves (59.41-84.33%) samples. ß-caryophyllene was identified as the major component in the EOs of leaves samples in all accessions of D. aucheri. Aromadandrene and tetradecane were identified as the major compound in stem and leaves samples of Dorema ammoniacum D. Don, respectively. The highest number of chemical constituents for leaves (27) and stem (28) samples were identified in D.au4 and D.au3 genotypes, respectively. The least number of chemical constituents for both leaves (18) and stem (19) samples were specified to D. ammoniacum species (D.am1 and D.am2). These results suggest the use of enriched-sesquiterpene hydrocarbons accessions of Dorema for future medicinal purposes.

A comprehensive study of selenium and cerium oxide nanoparticles on mung bean: Individual and synergistic effect on photosynthesis pigments, antioxidants, and dry matter accumulation.

In this study, the interaction effects of CeO2 NPs (250, 500 and 1000 mg L-1) and Se NPs (25, 50 and 75 mg L-1) were evaluated in mung bean (Vigna radiata). Single NPs and their combinations were foliar applied to 45-day old mung bean plants under greenhouse conditions. In each pot, a total volume of 100 mL of NPs suspension was sprayed on the plants shoot in two steps and one-week interval. After 94 days of growth, membrane degradation, antioxidant activity, photosynthetic pigments, and dry matter accumulation were assessed. At 250 and 500 mg CeO2-NPs L-1, there was partial increase of dry matter, stimulated activity of antioxidant enzymes (p ≤ 0.05), and reactive oxygen species (ROS). However, at 1000 mg L-1, CeO2-NPs caused strong accumulation of ROS (p ≤ 0.05), enlargement of starch granules and swelling of chloroplasts. In addition, at such concentration, there was accumulation of starch granules, reduction of photosynthetic pigments, biological nitrogen fixation, chlorosis, and a significant retardation in plant growth, compared with control, (p ≤ 0.05). Combination of Se-NPs (25 and 50 mg L-1) with 250 mg L-1 of CeO2 NPs decreased hydrogen peroxide, improved CAT, Chla, Chlb, and increased dry matter (p ≤ 0.05). At 1000 mg CeO2 NPs L-1, foliar spray of Se-NPs led to Ce accumulation in the cell wall and increased levels of SOD and proline (p ≤ 0.05). Results showed that 25 and 50 mg Se NPs L-1 ameliorate the stress of CeO2 NPs by upregulating photosynthesis pigments, antioxidants, and dry matter accumulation. Therefore, depending on the CeO2 NPs concentration, the mechanisms of Se NPs in modulating CeO2 NPs stress varied; low concentrations of Se NPs may strengthen the metabolism of legumes, and protect them against foliar toxicity of CeO2 NPs in semi-arid ecosystems.

Elicitation Effects on Some Secondary Metabolites and Antioxidant Activity in Callus Cultures of Allium jesdianum Boiss. & Buhse.: Methyl Jasmonate and Putrescine.

Allium jesdianum Boiss. & Buhse. is the most important species of the Amaryllidaceae family with various pharmacological properties. Three subsequent experiments (germination, callogenesis, and elicitation) were carried out as a completely randomized design with six replication. At the first study, the highest seed germination (78.33%) was achieved at chemical pre-treatment including the combination of α-naphthalene acetic acid (1 mg L-1) and benzylaminopurine (3 mg L-1) under in vitro condition. The highest callus induction (86.7%) was observed at MS/2 media, which was supplemented by NAA (1 mg L-1) and BAP (3 mg L-1) from hypocotyl explants. Then, two chemical elicitors including methyl jasmonate (MeJ) (0, 25, 50, and 100 µM) and putrescine (Pu) (0, 0.5, and 1 mM) were used to investigate their effects on different biochemical traits under callus culture. The results showed the superiority of MeJ over Pu for increasing the secondary metabolites and antioxidant activity in calluses of Allium jesdianum, compared to the control. The highest contents for total phenolics (6.02 mg GAE g-1 FW), total flavonoids (0.52 mg QE g-1 FW), and total flavonols (0.39 mg QE g-1 FW) were observed under 50 µM of MeJ. Meanwhile, the highest value for anthocyanin (8.99 µ mol g-1 FW) was achieved at 25 µM of MeJ. The highest 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl activities were observed at 50 and 100 µM of MeJ. Putrescine (0.5 mM) elicitation showed only superiority for callus growth rate (0.53 mm day-1). Enhancement of desired secondary metabolites at 50 µM MeJ could be suitable for future studies in biotechnological aspects of this medicinal plant.

Phytochemical analysis on the seeds of a new Iranian Plantago ovata Forssk. population specimen.

In this paper, the phytochemical analysis of the seeds of a new Iranian Plantago ovata Forssk. population exemplar is reported. This phytochemical analysis was carried out by means of hydroalcoholic maceration, column chromatography, NMR and MS analyses and led to the isolation of sixteen compounds belonging to five different classes of natural compounds. After comparison with previous analyses, a clear difference about their whole phytochemical patterns could be observed in some terms. A possible explanation of this was generally given, too.

Transient expression of the full-length glycoprotein from infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus in bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) leaves via agroinfiltration.

The glycoprotein of infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV), the causative agent of acute disease in salmonids, is the only structural protein of the virus that can induce protective immunity in the fish host. Here, the reliability of bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) plant for the production of this viral protein was examined by the transient expression method. Using the syringe agroinfiltration method, leaves of bean plants were transformed with the expression construct encoding the full-length of IHNV glycoprotein (IHNV-G) gene. Furthermore, the transformation efficacy of two infiltration buffers including PBS-A (PBS+acetosyringone) and MMS-A (MES buffer + MgSO4  + sucrose + acetosyringone) was compared. The analysis of mRNA and dot-blot assay confirmed the transcription and translation of IHNV-G protein in bean leaves. Moreover, Western blotting verified the production of intact, full-length (∼57 kDa) IHNV-G protein in the agroinfiltrated plants. Of note, the production level of IHNV-G using MMS-A agroinfiltration buffer was approximately five times higher compared to PBS-A buffer (0.48 vs. 0.1% of total soluble protein), indicating the effect of infiltration buffer on the transient transformation efficiency. The recombinant protein was purified at the final yield of 0.35 µg/g of fresh leaf tissue, using nickel affinity chromatography. The present work is the first report describing the feasibility of the plant expression platform for the production of IHNV-G protein, which can be served as an oral vaccine against IHNV infection.

Determination of phenolic compounds, antioxidant and anticancer activity of Chrozophora tinctoria accessions collected from different regions of Iran.

The present study was conducted to determine the total phenolics, flavonoids, flavonols, anthocyanin, and carotenoids as well as the antioxidant activity of 10 different Crozophora tinctoria accessions originated from Iran. The highest contents of total phenolics, flavonoids, flavonols, anthocyanin, and carotenoids were detected in C.t (2), C.t (10), C.t (10), C.t (9), and C.t (3) accessions, respectively. The highest antioxidant activities of the samples, evaluated using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl and phosphomolibdate assays, were detected in C.t (8) and C.t (3), respectively. The highest phenyl aminolyase activity was observed in C.t (4). Ten phenolic compounds, including quercetin, catechin, ellagic acid, rosmarinic acid, hesperetin, eugenol, hesperidin, carvacrol, thymol, and kaempferol were identified and quantified using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) technique. The best anticancer activity against HeLa cell lines was observed at C.t (8) accession, originated from Qazvin Region. This study confirmed that the C. tinctoria accessions with rich phenolics compounds may be recommended as a novel source of natural antioxidants for future aims in medicinal fields. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: According to this findings there was high variation among phenolics compounds of C. tinctoria which is revealed by HPLC analysis. This study identified phenolic compounds with antioxidant and anticancer activity in Iranian accessions of C. tinctoria. With an increase in the rate of cancer disease, superior accessions of C. tinctoria may be recommended as a novel source of natural antioxidants for ethno pharmacological aims as cancer therapy, and also in nutraceutical fields.

Modulation of callus growth and secondary metabolites in different Thymus species and Zataria multiflora micropropagated under ZnO nanoparticles stress.

Thymus species are aromatic plants with diverse applications in food industries and medicine. This study was conducted to evaluate the potential effect of ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) on callus proliferation and thymol and carvacrol production in three Thymus species, that is, T. vulgaris, T. daenensis, and T. kotschyanus, and Zataria multiflora. For this purpose, callus induction was performed on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium containing different plant growth regulators (PGRs). After optimization of callus growth, the effects of different concentrations of ZnO NPs (100 and 150 mg L-1 ) were investigated. MS containing 2 mg L-1 of 2, 4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid (2,4-D) and 1 mg L-1 of kinetin (Kin) revealed significantly highest fresh weight (0.18 g) of callus in T. kotschyanus. Callus growth rate (0.079 mm day-1 ) was found highest in T. vulgaris under similar conditions. Moreover, highest callus induction (92.50%) was achieved by T. kotschyanus in MS containing 2.5 mg L-1 of 2,4-D. Regarding the highest content of thymol (22.8 mg L-1 ) and carvacrol (0.68 mg L-1 ) evaluated by high-performance liquid chromatography, best results were achieved under 150 mg L-1 of ZnO NPs in T. kotschyanus and T. daenesis, respectively. This is simple and cost-effective method to be applied on industrial level for production of enhanced secondary metabolites content.

Production of a new mucilage compound in Lepidium sativum callus by optimizing in vitro growth conditions.

The mucilage in Lepidium sativum L. is considered a biologically active compound with diverse medicinal properties. Different explants (hypocotyls and leaf) were transferred to Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with twelve different plant growth regulator combinations under two different incubations (light and dark). The best mucilage production from callus (36.76% g g-1 dry weight) was obtained in the MS medium supplemented with 1 mg L-1 of 2, 4-D and 2 mg L-1 of BAP under the light condition. The mucilage produced by callus culture was nearly three times more than the mucilage yield of the seeds. The glucose, arabinose + mannose and galactose were 43.4 (mg g-1 DW), 195.3 (mg g-1 DW) and 86.2 (mg g-1 DW) in the mucilage originated from seed, callus leaf and callus hypocotyl, respectively. The present study proposes an efficient method for producing large scales of mucilage with a favorable sugar aimed at food or pharmaceutical industries.

Molecular diversity assessment of a world collection of safflower genotypes by SRAP and SCoT molecular markers.

Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) is considered as an oil crop that is rich in medicinal and industrial properties. In this study, the genetic diversity of safflower was assessed using 12 polymorphic sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAPs) and 11 polymorphic start codon targeted (SCoT) markers in 100 genotypes of safflower gathered from different geographical regions of the world. The 23 primers generated a total of 227 polymorphism fragments with a mean of 68.2% within the range of 3 (SCoT 31 and SCoT 35) to 13 (SCoT 35) bands per primer. Polymorphism per primer ranged between 100% (in Me4-Em1) and 18.1% (in SCoT19), with an average of 36.76%. The polymorphism information contents of the SRAP and SCoT markers were 0.35 and 0.30, respectively, indicating that SRAP markers were more effective than SCoT markers for assessing the degree of genetic diversity of the safflower. The results of the analysis of molecular variance showed a significant difference across cultivated safflower genotypes possessing a high intra-population variation. The examined accessions were categorized into five clusters based on similarity centers: the Middle East containing Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and Tajikistan; the Far East, including India, Pakistan, and Korea; Europe; the American continent; and Africa, including Egypt, Sudan and Libya. The present study shows the effectiveness of employing the mixture of SRAP and SCoT markers in the identification of safflower genetic diversity that would be useful for conservation and population genetics of safflower improvement in further studies.

Inheritance of carthamin and carthamidin in safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.).

The safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) is an oil seed crop from which the flowers is used as medicine and food colorants. The present investigation was undertaken to explore gene effects for safflower's pigments in flower including carthamin and carthamidin. Six generation including P1, P2, F1, F2, BC1 and BC2 that derived from two different crosses (Mex. 2-138 (P2) × Wht-Esf (P1) and C111 (P2) × Wht-Esf (P1) were used for generation of mean analysis. The joint scaling test showed that additive [a], additive × additive [aa], and additive × dominance [ad] effects were significant for genetic control of carthamin and carthamidin in both crosses. The traits, including carthamidin and carthamin, had medium (48%) and low (17%) narrow-sense heritability, respectively. The results obtained here could be suitable for designing the breeding strategies based on selection to improve carthamin and carthamidin pigments in safflower.

Genetic variation in safflower (Carthamus tinctorious L.) for seed quality-related traits and inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers.

Safflower (Carthamus tinctorious L.) is an oilseed crop that is valued as a source of high quality vegetable oil. The genetic diversity of 16 safflower genotypes originated from different geographical regions of Iran and some with exotic origin were evaluated. Eight different seed quality-related traits including fatty acid composition of seed oil (stearic acid, palmitic acid, oleic acid and linoleic acid), the contents of, oil, protein, fiber and ash in its seeds, as well as 20 inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) polymorphic primers were used in this study. Analysis of variance showed significant variation in genotypes for the seed quality-related traits. Based on ISSR markers, a total of 204 bands were amplified and 149 bands (about 70%) of these were polymorphic. Cluster analysis based on either biochemical or molecular markers classified the genotypes into four groups, showing some similarities between molecular and biochemical markers for evaluated genotypes. A logical similarity between the genotype clusters based on molecular data with their geographical origins was observed.