Identification of DNA markers associated with some agronomically important characters through association mapping and determination of biodiversity in molecular level in Turkey's apricot gerplasm

Association Mapping is a powerful method which is based on linkage disequilibrium (LD) for determination of the correlations between phenotypes and genotypes. In this study, 259 apricot cultivars were genotyped with genotyping by sequencing (GBS). A total of 20.264 high quality SNP markers which were obtained from GBS analysis were used in STRUCTURE software to determine the subpopulatin number. After this analysis subpopulation number was determined as 3 (ΔK=3). GWAS were performed for fruit weight, fruit flesh color and fruit firmness according to MLM (Q+K) approach in Trait Analysis by Association, Evoluation and Linkage (TASSEL). After these analyses 4 SNP markers were identified which were significantly associated with these pomological traits. This is the first association mapping study with apricot for fruit weight, fruit flesh color and fruit firmness pomological traits. This study shows that association mapping is a powerful method and these markers can be used in marker assisted selection in apricot breeding studies.