Molecular and agromorphological characterization of Cornus mas L. genotypes in the flora of Turkey.

Cornus mas L. is a type of fruit preferred by consumers due to its rich bioactive compounds, attractive appearance, unique taste, high biological activities, sensory properties and nutritional properties. Morphological and molecular characterization of 61 C. mas genotypes collected from the flora of Bolu province was carried out in the current study. According to the two-year average data, the fruit and core weights of the genotypes showed significant variation with ranges from 1.44 to 3.37 g and from 0.19 to 1.13 g, respectively. The soluble solids content, pH, and titratable acidity values changed between 10.37 and 21.22%, 3.45 and 2.44, and 1.01% and 2.46%, respectively. Inter-primer binding site (iPBS) retrotransposon markers were evaluated for genetic variation among C. mas genotypes for the first time worldwide. Five iPBS markers amplified 80 fragments, 60 polymorphic (75%) with an average of 12 polymorphic bands per primer. Each of the selected iPBS markers supplied adequate separation power. Polymorphism information content and resolution power of markers ranged from 0.18 to 0.28 and from 3.57 to 8.43, with averages of 0.24 and 5.52, respectively. The iPBS primer 2378 had the highest polymorphism rate value (88.89%), whereas iPBS primers 2242 and 2232 had the lowest (66.67%) phylogenetic analysis grouped genotypes into three main groups. The unweighted pair groups method using arithmetic averages, principal coordinate, and structure analyses confirmed a high level of genetic diversity among the investigated genotypes in this work. The findings will help to plant breeders to characterize C. mas genotypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]