Investigation of possible markers related to fruit characteristics and flowering that may allow marker- assisted selection in Prunus salicina

In this study, genetic diversity levels among 14 different plum cultivars and genotypes with red and yellow rind were investigated using ISSR, SCOT and SSR markers. 14 ISSR primers produced a total of 240 reproducible band profiles, 186 of which were polymorphic (91.7%), varying in size from 174 to 3363 bp. 11 SCOT primers amplified a total of 205 reproducible bands, of which 189 were polymorphic (92.19%), ranging in size from 129 to 3273 bp. The mean PIC value was calculated as 0.293 for ISSR primers and 0.316 for SCOT. With 5 SSR primers, 50 alleles with sizes ranging from 123 bp to 276 bp were formed. The mean PIC value in SSR primers was found to be 0.57. The highest genetic similarity value obtained from ISSR analysis was found between Yellow Genotype-C and Red Genotype-A (0.660), and the lowest genetic similarity value was found between Yellow Genotype-C and Angeleno (0.341). SCOT analysis showed that the genetically closest cultivars were Red Genotype-A and Red Genotype-C (0.672), while the farthest cultivars were Fortune and Yellow Genotype-B (0.317). UPGMA dendrograms obtained from ISSR and SCOT data formed 2 main groups that distinguish registered cultivars and genotypes. SSR primers and yellow and red plum cultivars were not completely separated. However, it was determined that SSR markers designed for fruit skin and flesh color discriminated the varieties relatively better than ISSR and SCOT markers. The markers used did not differentiate according to flowering time. Keywords: Plum, Genetic variation, Molecular markers, SCOT, ISSR, SSR