Genetic diversity and population structure of mediterranean sesame core colection

In this thesis, The Mediterranean sesame core collection which contains accessions collected from 21 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe and America was analyzed on the basis of population with 5292 SNP markers obtained by next generation sequencing method. This genetic information was used to evaluate genetic diversity, population structure and phylogenetic relations of the collection. The STRUCTURE program determined population structure and the accessions from four continentals were distributed three separate groups. Molecular variance analysis (AMOVA) data showed that genetic variation was the highest among individuals (68%). A low level of differentiation was observed between subpopulations with a genetic distance (FST) of 0.084 and the lowest FST value was obtained in the Asian and American groups. The phylogenetic tree was created by TASSEL 5.2.52 program. Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) was used to determine the relations of accessions. As a result of the analysis, four different groups originating from different countries were acquired. The accessions from Asian countries included in all groups. Turkey and Greece were also part of same group and it might be sourced of seed transferring between these countries. Molecular and systematic findings obtained in this study will be helpful in future sesame studies.