Search

Human body needs sufficient quantity of protein on daily basis for the normal functioning. Dietary protein in sufficient quantity is becoming a key issue for huge population of the world particularly in developing countries. Present investigation aimed to explore the phenotypic variation and to investigate the genomic regions associated with seed protein contents in Turkish common bean germplasm collected from 19 provinces. Field experiments were conducted according to augmented block design at two locations (Bolu and Sivas) for two consecutive years (2017 and 2018). Analysis of variance revealed highly significant environmental effects (p < 0.05) on seed protein contents within environments, while genotype by environment interaction revealed nonsignificant effects. Overall mean protein contents were 36.36%, while Balikesir-3 and Hakkari-38 yielded minimum (31.64%) and maximum (40.70%) protein contents. Among 19 provinces, accessions from Hakkari and Erzincan provinces disclosed maximum and minimum mean protein contents respectively. Scatter plot between seed protein contents and plant height divided the accessions according to their protein contents and plant height. A total of eight stable accessions were selected and can be recommended for future breeding activities. The implemented constellation plot separated the studied germplasm into two populations on the basis of their protein contents. Genotyping by sequencing resulted 7900 DArTseq markers was used for marker-trait association and a total of 11 markers showed significant association for protein contents. During this study, DArT-3365703 marker was identified in both locations (Sivas and Bolu) during 2017 and might be used for future common bean breeding. Physical map revealed the presence narrow regions between identified markers on Pv02 and Pv05. Therefore, these regions should be considered for future breeding activities. We are confident that results of present study will be helpful for marker-assisted breeding of common bean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Safflower is an underutilized and minor oilseed crop that received less attention from the scientific community compared to other oilseed crops like soybean and sunflower. Exploring the genetic basis associated with agronomic traits is crucial for markerassisted breeding of safflower. A genome-wide association study was conducted using a total of 12,232 DArTseq markers to identify the marker-trait association for important agronomic traits in an international safflower panel derived from 26 different geographical countries of the world. Statistically significant genotypic effects (p < 0.05) were observed across mean data of both locations (Pakistan and Turkey). Moderate to high heritability estimates were observed for the studied traits. Studied material showed higher performance for all traits except seeds per capitulum in Pakistan compared to Turkey. Phenotypic diversity for important agronomic traits, such as plant height (60.08 to 121.48 cm), capitula per plant (8.7 to 80.4), seeds per capitulum (15 to 42.05), and seed yield per plant (4.85 to 51.02 g), was illustrated. Seed yield per plant showed a highly significant and positive correlation with capitula per plant (0.4985***). Constellation plot analysis resulted in four groups, i.e. A, B, C, and D. Genotyping by sequencing resulted in 12,232 DArTseq markers being used for the investigation of marker-trait association through mixed linear model (Q + K) approach. DArT-38077549 showed significant association with capitula per plant, while two markers (DArT-22763576, DArT-22763253) were associated with plant height. A total of two markers (DArT-38079422, DArT-100043360) were associated with seeds per capitulum. A total of five DArTseq markers showed significant association with seed yield per plant and maximum variation was resulted by DArT-100004992. The results of this study provide a new insight to understand the genetic basis associated with agronomic traits in safflower. We envisage that significant markers identified through this investigation may be applicable in future safflower marker-assisted breeding programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antioxidants play an important role in animal and plant life owing to their involvement in complex metabolic and signaling mechanisms, hence uncovering the genetic basis associated with antioxidant activity is very important for the development of improved varieties. Here, a total of 182 common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) landraces and six commercial cultivars collected from 19 provinces of Turkey were evaluated for seed antioxidant activity under four environments and two locations. Antioxidant activity was measured using ABTS radical scavenging capacity and mean antioxidant activity in common bean landraces was 20.03 µmol TE/g. Analysis of variance reflected that genotype by environment interaction was statistically non-significant and heritability analysis showed higher heritability of antioxidant activity. Variations in seed color were observed, and a higher antioxidant activity was present in seeds having colored seed as compared to those having white seeds. A negative correlation was found between white-colored seeds and antioxidant activity. A total of 7900 DArTseq markers were used to explore the population structure that grouped the studied germplasm into two sub-populations on the basis of their geographical origins and trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity contents. Mean linkage disequilibrium (LD) was 54%, and mean LD decay was 1.15 Mb. Mixed linear model i.e., the Q + K model demonstrated that four DArTseq markers had significant association (p < 0.01) for antioxidant activity. Three of these markers were present on chromosome Pv07, while the fourth marker was located on chromosome Pv03. Among the identified markers, DArT-3369938 marker showed maximum (14.61%) variation. A total of four putative candidate genes were predicted from sequences reflecting homology to identified DArTseq markers. This is a pioneering study involving the identification of association for antioxidant activity in common bean seeds. We envisage that this study will be very helpful for global common bean breeding community in order to develop cultivars with higher antioxidant activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laurel is a medicinally important plant and is known to the world for its essential oil. Turkey is the main market in the laurel leaf trade by sharing about 90% of the world trade. Here we made an effort to elucidate genetic diversity and population structure of 94 Turkish laurel genotypes collected from 26 provinces and four geographical regions using inter-primer binding site (iPBS) retrotransposon markers. A total of 13 most polymorphic primers were selected which yielded 195 total bands, of which 84.10% were found polymorphic. Mean polymorphism information content (PIC) was (0.361) and diversity indices including mean effective number of alleles (1.36), mean Shannon's information index (0.35) and overall gene diversity (0.22) revealed the existence of sufficient amount of genetic diversity in the studied plant material. Most diversity was found in genotypes collected from the Mediterranean region. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) revealed that most of the variation (85%) in Turkish laurel germplasm is due to differences within populations. Model-based structure, principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) and neighbor-joining algorithms were found in agreement and clustered the studied germplasm according to their collection provinces and regions. This is a very first study exploring the genetic diversity and population structure of laurel germplasm using iPBS-retrotransposon marker system. We believe that information provided in this work will be helpful for the scientific community to take more interest in this forgotten but the medicinally important plant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Capsicum is one of the most important and diverse plant taxa, widely used as a spice and vegetable worldwide, including Turkey. Germplasm characterization is an essential step for crop breeding. In the present study, we characterized the genetic diversity and population structure of a collection of 94 pepper accessions using inter-primer binding site (iPBS) retrotransposon-based markers. A total of 20 iPBS primers were used that generated 172 bands (mean = 8.6 bands/primer), of which ~92% were polymorphic in the entire germplasm collection, whereas 83%, 69%, and 80% of the bands were polymorphic within the C. annuum, C. chinense, and C. frutescens subsets, respectively. All of the taxa analyzed were clearly differentiated by the iPBS markers. The polymorphism information content of the markers ranged between 0.15 and 0.99, with an average of 0.66. Cluster analyses by different methods (UPGMA, STRUCTURE, and principal coordinate analysis) revealed a clear separation of all of the C. annuum accessions from the other pepper species, with a few subclusters observed among the latter, including groups with accessions of both C. frutescens and C. chinense. At the interspecies level, the 3 clustering methods clearly discriminated C. annuum from C. frutescens and C. chinense. No clear association was found between the iPBS-based clustering and geographical origin or fruit characteristics of the accessions. This is the first report characterizing the genetic diversity and population structure in the Turkish pepper germplasm using iPBS markers. It is expected that these data will serve as a foundation for the development of new and improved pepper varieties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing high yielding safflower cultivars with good adaptation to diverse environmental conditions can improve production in terms of seed yield and reduce the deficiency in edible oil. The genetic variability that exists among and within populations for desirable agronomic traits can be used to develop elite cultivars. A total of 94 safflower accessions from 26 different countries were used in this study to evaluate morphoagronomic performance, determine the pattern of similarity centers, and identify the best performing accessions by conducting 2 field experiments in Pakistan and Turkey using augmented design. Genetic diversity for important yield and yield traits was described including capitulum diameter (17.30 to 28.30 mm), branches per plant (5.10 to 17.30), capitula per plant (8.70 to 80.40), and seed yield per plant (4.86 to 51.02 g). These analyses showed a good level of variation in the current study. Using principal component analysis, it was observed that days to flower initiation, days to 50% flowering, days to flower completion, seed yield per plant, capitula per plant, branches per plant, seeds per capitulum, and capitulum diameter were the major contributors to the observed genetic variability in the evaluated safflower panel. Seed yield per plant reflected a significant and positive correlation with capitula per plant, branches per plant, and capitulum diameter, and these traits can be suggested as a selection criterion in safflower breeding programs. The hierarchical clustering was in agreement with the patterns of 7 similarity centers based on seed yield per plant, capitula per plant, capitulum diameter, and branches per plant. During this study, a few promising safflower accessions were selected for future breeding programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]