Korkmaz, M.; Dogan, N.Y.

Gypsophila L. is the 3rd-largest genus of Caryophyllaceae in Turkey, a country that includes 60 taxa belonging to 56 species of the 126 recognized in the genus. A total of 35 taxa are endemic to Turkey, with an approximately 60% endemism ratio. In this study, the genetic diversity of 14 Gypsophila species from Turkey was analyzed using random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers. Sixteen RAPD and 6 ISSR primers produced 132 polymorphic bands. RAPD, ISSR, and RAPD + ISSR primers for the 14 species showed 92.7, 93.8, and 92.9% polymorphism, respectively. Our results indicate that RAPD and ISSR markers are reliable and effective for assessing the genetic diversity of Gypsophila species. Gypsophila species studied were separated into 2 clusters. Our analysis shows that the clusters correlated with geographic and phytogeographic regions.

Ercisli, S.; Agar, G.; Yildirim, N.; Duralija, B.; Vokurka, A.; Karlidag, H.

Wild sweet cherry (Prunus avium) trees are abundant in the northern part of Turkey, including the Coruh Valley. We analyzed 18 wild sweet cherry genotypes collected from diverse environments in the upper Coruh Valley in Turkey to determine genetic variation, using 10 SSR primers. These SSR primers generated 46 alleles; the number of alleles per primer ranged from 3 to 7, with a mean of 4.6. The primer PS12A02 gave the highest number of polymorphic bands (N = 7), while CPSCT010, UDAp-401 and UDAp-404 gave the lowest number (N = 3). Seven groups were separated in the dendrogram, although most of the genotypes did not cluster according to phenological and morphological traits. This level of genetic diversity in these wild sweet cherry genotypes is very high and therefore these trees would be useful as breeders for crosses between cultivated sweet cherry and wild genotypes.