Use of retrotransposon based iPBS markers for determination of genetic relationship among some Chestnut Cultivars (Castanea sativa Mill.) in Türkiye.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to reveal the genetic relationships among some economically important chestnut cultivars for Türkiye by using retrotransposon-based inter primer binding site (iPBS) markers. METHODS AND RESULTS: In this study, a total of 19 iPBS markers were used to determine the genetic relationships among 11 chestnut cultivars (Castanea sativa Mill.). In the study, chestnut cultivars named Haciömer, Osmanoglu, Sariaslama, Erfelek, Kemer, Isiklar, Sekerci, Siyah Bursa, Tülü, Bouche De Betizac and Marigoule were the preferred cultivars utilised. Using the online marker efficiency calculator (iMEC), some indices of polymorphism, such as the mean heterozygosity, polymorphism information content, marker index and discriminating power, were determined. In addition, the size ranges of alleles, number of average alleles, number of total alleles, number of polymorphic alleles, and polymorphism rate were determined at a successful level. The chestnut cultivars of Haciömer and Sekerci were determined to be the most similar cultivars with a similarity coefficient value of 0.924, and they formed a subgroup together with the chestnut cultivars Osmanoglu and Erfelek, showing close similarity with these two cultivars. CONCLUSIONS: The use of iPBS markers in chestnuts in Türkiye was carried out for the first time in this study. The power of iPBS markers to evaluate the genetic relationship for our preferred chestnut cultivars was revealed. For this reason, it has emerged that it will be useful in the molecular characterization of both genotypes in natural chestnut populations and chestnut breeding materials such as varieties and cultivars in chestnut breeding programs.

Tolerance evaluation and genetic relationship analysis among some economically important chestnut cultivars in Türkiye using drought-associated SSR and EST-SSR markers.

The aim of this study was to evaluate drought tolerance and genetic relationships among some important chestnut cultivars for Türkiye by using drought-related genomic simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers and genic expressed sequence tag-simple sequence repeat (EST-SSR) markers. Using five SSR markers, the average number of alleles (avNa), mean heterozygosity (Havp) and polymorphism information content (PIC) were determined to be 9.22, 0.395 and 0.375, respectively. In addition, using eight EST-SSR markers, the values of avNa, Havp and PIC were determined to be 7.75, 0.309 and 0.262, respectively. All microsatellite markers used in this study showed 100% polymorphism among chestnut cultivars. In UPGMA dendrograms obtained with both SSR and EST-SSR markers, the Erfelek and Haciömer chestnut cultivars were determined to be the most similar cultivars. Some assessments are discussed regarding drought tolerance for specific alleles obtained from the EST-SSR markers GOT045, GOT021, GOT004, FIR094 and VIT033 in chestnut cultivars. Some preliminary results regarding drought tolerance in chestnut cultivars were obtained in our study with the help of these markers. Our study also characterized the genetic relationships among chestnut cultivars of great importance using drought-related character-specific markers.