Genetic diversity of pepper lines using SRAP molecular markers

The aim of this study is to determine the genetic relationship between the inbreed pepper (Capsicum annum L.) lines and increase the efficiency of breeding programs. We investigated genetic similarity of 35 inbreed charleston pepper lines and 44 inbreed bell pepper lines by SRAP (Sequence Related Amplified Polymorphism) markers. The seventy one and twentyfour SRAP markers were tested for charleston and bell inbreed pepper lines, respectively. Out of the tested primer pairs, 50 combination for inbreed charleston pepper lines and 15 combination of inbreed bell pepper lines showed polymorphism, while 123 polymorphic bands were obtained in charleston pepper lines, bell pepper lines gave 25 polymorphic bands. The genetic similarity ranged between 0.62 and 0.98 for charleston lines, between 0.54 to 1.00 for bell pepper. In the obtained dendrograms, genetically farthest individuals were 185 and 193 in charleston pepper, 141 and 168 in bell pepper. However, genetically the closest lines in charleston group were identified as 190-191 and 218-219 while in green pepper group closest lines were determined as 163-164, 183-184 and 180-181. Consequently, we obtained that SRAP markers were able to determine the genetic diversity of inbreeding lines. Keywords: pepper, genetic diversity, SRAP, polymorphism