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The Fertile Crescent is a primary center of wheat domestication and diversity. Despite its importance for bread wheat breeding, few efforts have been made to fully understand the genetic structure of the Anatolian bread wheat. A lack of information regarding the genetic structure of the bread wheat from this region is evident. Therefore, this study aimed to provide new insights into the genetic structure of bread wheat from Anatolia. A genetic linkage map was constructed based on recombinant inbred lines derived from a cross between the Turkish cultivar Gerek-79 and the Moroccan cultivar Arrehane, by using DArT markers anchored with simple sequence repeat markers. This map consisted of 54 linkage groups belonging to 21 bread wheat chromosomes, spanning a total of 935.629 cM. The total number of mapped markers varied from 5 to 87, depending on the chromosome. Seventy-seven DArT markers with unpublished chromosomal locations were mapped on different chromosomes, whereas 23 were mapped onto chromosomes that deviated from those detailed in the literature. This linkage map represents a key starting point towards our understanding of the genome structure of Anatolian bread wheat, which would, in turn, permit us to genetically dissect important agromorphological and quality characteristics. This linkage map will be useful for the identification of QTL for biotic and abiotic stresses, and for important agronomic traits that are valuable for Anatolian wheat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Retrotransposons have been highly studied in monocots; however retrotransposon diversity in dicot crops has not been well documented. Our objective was to assess the diversity harbored by field pea landraces using retrotranposon markers. In this research, molecular characterization of 104 landraces and 34 field pea breeding lines was assessed using newly developed iPBS-retrotransposon markers. The 12 iPBS-retrotransposon primers generated a total 106 scorable bands, and 81 of these were found to be polymorphic (76.4%), with an average of 6.75 polymorphic fragments per primer. Polymorphism information content (PIC) ranged from 0.33 to 0.84 with an average of 0.61. It was evident that field pea landraces from the same geographical region were often placed in different groups in the neighbor joining analysis, indicating that grouping based on genetic parameters was not closely related to the geographical origin. The population structure was determined by using STRUCTURE software, and three populations at K = 3 and five populations at K = 5 were identified among landraces. The plentiful diversity present in Turkish field pea landraces could be used as genetic resource in designing breeding program, and may also contribute to worldwide pea breeding programs. Our data also suggested a role of iPBS-retrotransposons as ‘a universal marker’ for molecular characterization of pea germplasm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though lentil has been an important food legume for centuries, genetic studies in lentil are still in their infancy. Genetic diversity and relationships among wild Lens species from Turkey has seldom been investigated. Additionally, a limited number of simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers have been developed for use in breeding and genetic studies of lentil crop. In this study, molecular characterization of 50 accessions mostly from Turkey, belonging to 6 wild and 1 cultivated Lens species, was performed using newly developed inter-primer binding site (iPBS) retrotransposons and inter-SSR (ISSR) markers. The 10 iPBS primers generated a total of 151 scorable bands, of which 150 were polymorphic (99.3%) with an average of 15.0 polymorphic fragments per primer. The 10 ISSR primers detected 138 scorable bands showing 100% polymorphism, with an average of 13.5 bands per primer. The average polymorphism information content (PIC) value for ISSR markers (0.97) was higher than that for iPBS markers (0.90). Lens orientalis was found to be the most diverse species, raising the possibility of wide crosses with cultivated species Lens culinaris . Cultivated varieties also showed high level of polymorphism, at 82.92% and 51.92% with ISSR and iPBS markers, respectively. Lens lamottei and Lens tomentosus were found as the least polymorphic species using both marker systems. The grouping of accessions and species within clusters were almost similar when iPBS and ISSR graphs were compared. Our data also suggested the role of iPBS-retrotransposons as ‘ a universal marker ’ for molecular characterization of wild and cultivated Lens species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Faba bean is cultivated worldwide and widely used in Mediterranean countries, Asia and Europe. However, only a few faba bean breeders are active in cultivar development. As a result, a limited number of varieties are available for growers. Plant genetic resources or germplasm are fundamental sources for plant breeding, and the assessment of the genetic diversity among germplasm accessions is useful to facilitate more efficient use of plant genetic resources. A mini-core collection of faba bean germplasm (178 landraces and four cultivars), from diverse geographic regions of Turkey, was assessed for agro-morphological performance and some quality traits. There were substantial variations for the investigated morphological and quality characteristics. The analysis of variance revealed that the differences among 182 accessions were significant for all the studied characters. Some accessions showed very good agronomic performance for some traits. Positive and negative correlations existed among different morphological and agronomic traits. Landraces have been classified into four different groups using a cluster analysis. These results suggest that an a priori classification of accessions according to the growing area does not strictly correspond to phenotypic grouping. From the spatial distribution of landraces, however, it has been possible to identify ‘superior’ accessions of some traits. These findings indicate a number of useful traits in the gene pools and a wide range of phenotypic variation that provides a good source of diversity for use in modern faba bean breeding programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing successful strategies to ensure future increase in yield of soybean and peanut crops hinges in part, on improving the genetic basis of the cultivars. Knowledge of genetic relationships in crop breeding programs provides valuable information that can be used by plant breeders as a parental line selection tool. So far, a thorough analysis of genetic diversity among the soybean and peanut genotypes grown in Turkey had not been attempted at DNA level. In this study, inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSR) and sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) markers were used to evaluate the genetic diversity between 21 soybean and 32 peanut cultivars and breeding lines adapted to different regions of Turkey. The ISSR analysis, which was performed with 46 primers in soybean and 47 primers in peanut, yielded 31 and 26 polymorphic bands, respectively, while 26 and 17 polymorphic amplicons were amplified by 34 and 36 SRAP primer combinations in soybean and peanut, respectively. The unweighted pair group method with arithmetic means dendrograms (UPGMA), based on Jaccard similarities,were obtained from the combined ISSR + SRAP data for both soybean and peanut. In soybean, UPGMA dendrogram clustered all soybean cultivars into the same group except 'Yeşilsoy', whereas, in peanut, it separated cultivars southwest runner and spantex from all the other cultivars, breeding lines, and plant introductions. In light of the narrow germplasm base of soybean and peanut genotypes grown in Turkey, a renewed emphasis should be placed on the introduction of new sources of germplasm into the breeding pool in order to enhance genetic variability to permit continued progress in developing high yielding cultivars and lead to greater gains for selections. The results obtained from this study will be helpful for soybean and peanut breeders in Turkey to gain information about genetic diversity and will enable them to make a future strategy for broadening the genetic basis of these crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge of genetic diversity could be beneficial by contributing important information in the selection of breeding material. The objective of this study was to explore the genetic diversity and relationship in the Turkish tobacco germplasm with the iPBS-retrotransposons marker that emerged as a universal method. A total of 90 landraces and 6 commercial cultivars collected from different geographical regions of Turkey were used in this study. Eleven most polymorphic iPBS-retrotransposons primers yielded a total of 119 scorable bands and 98 of these bands were found to be polymorphic (82.35%), with an average of 8.91 polymorphic fragments for each primer. The mean polymorphism information contents were found to be 0.33, ranging from 0.10 to 0.80. The unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean revealed that the genotypes belonging to the same geographical regions were often present in the same group and very close to each other. Based on the Bayesian clustering model, the genetic structure of Turkish tobacco germplasm was divided into 2 main groups. This is first study to explore the genetic diversity of Turkish tobacco by the iPBS-retrotransposons and we believe that in future the results of this study will serve as a foundation for the development of new and improved tobacco varieties in Turkey and the rest of world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Having knowledge on genetic similarity and DNA profile of potato genotypes facilitates a breeder's decision for parent selection and provides accurate variety identification. Fingerprinting and identification of genetic similarity among 151 potato genotypes were achieved using an inter-primer-binding sites (iPBS) retrotransposon marker system. Our study is the first application of iPBS markers for fingerprinting and distinguishing large numbers of Solanum tuberosum genotypes. Initially, 16 potato genotypes were screened using 45 iPBS retrotransposon markers to identify polymorphisms. Seventeen of these primers were selected for fingerprinting the whole set of accessions due to strong, reproducible and polymorphic bands. The 17 iPBS primers produced 290 scorable bands of which 224 were polymorphic. The number of bands per primer ranged from 10 to 26 with an average of 17.1. The number of polymorphic bands per primer was between 6 and 21. The polymorphism percentage per primer ranged from 46.2 to 100.0% with an average of 77.2% per primer. The mean polymorphism information content (PIC) values of iPBS primers varied from 0.12 to 0.31 per primer. Genetic similarity based on Jaccard's coefficient of potato genotypes ranged from 0.61 to 0.93 with an average of 0.73. The data produced herein may be used for selection of appropriate parents and variety description in the future. The findings of the present study suggest that iPBS retrotransposons are powerful and easy DNA markers for fingerprinting the large samples of potato germplasm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant landraces represent a repository of a gene pool, local adaptation of their domestic species, and thereby are considered a great source of genetic variations. Such genetic variation can be helpful to mitigate the current and future food challenges. A total of 183 common bean accessions including three commercial varieties collected from 19 Turkish provinces were grown to record their morpho-agronomic variations and to evaluate the best performing accessions under multi-environmental conditions. Plant height, days to maturity, pods weight, seed length, and 100-seed weight were used to evaluate the best performing accessions under different environmental conditions. A wide range of variations for traits like days to maturity (99–161), plant height (21–168.7 cm), seed length (7.41–16.4 mm), seeds per plant (17.8–254.4), and 100-seeds weight (24.97–73.8 g) were observed and can be useful for breeding purposes. The analytic results derived from the first three eigenvectors suggested that plant height, plant weight, 100-seed weight, and days to flowering were biologically significant bean traits. Seed yield per plant was positively and significantly correlated with plant weight and pods weight. Genotype × environment biplot discriminated the studied common bean accessions based on their plant height and growth habit. Plant height, days to maturity, seed width, and first pod height were found highly heritable traits and were least affected by environmental forces. Among 19 provinces, accessions of Bilecik showed maximum pods per plant, seed yield per plant and 100-seed weight, while Erzincan and Sivas provinces reflected the prevalence of bushy and early maturing accessions. Information provided herein comprehensively explored the occurrence of genotypic variations which can be used for the development of candidate varieties responding to breeder, farmer, and consumer preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]