Inter primer binding site (iPBS) polymorphism was investigated for common ivy (Hedera helix, L.) to obtain the knowledge on genetic diversity in this species. Actually, a very limited information exists about application of DNA markers in Hedera helix. Natural and planted European populations of ivy were analysed using an iPBS marker 5′ACCTGGCGTGCCA3′ with a total number of 238 fragments generated. Of these, 86% were polymorphic. There were determined certain attributes of this marker such as the diversity index (DI) and polymorphism information content (PIC). The value of the diversity index was 0.79 and the polymorphic information index was 0.78. The proportion of polymorphisms of the individual amplified loci ranged from 0.32% to 6.98%. Cluster analysis was performed to determine the relationships among the European ivy populations where the distribution in the dendrogram under the habitat specifity was found for the used iPBS marker. We concluded that iPBS was very efficient in analysing the genetic diversity in Hedera helix, L. and that this marker can serve as a suitable tool to find genomically specific fingerprints relevant to the factors influencing the distribution of genetic variation.
