Determination of genetic variation with cpSSR markers in six different populations of Turkish Red pine (Pinus brutia Ten.) in Duzlercami common-garden test site at Antalya

Pinus brutia Ten. (Turkish red pine) is naturally distributed in eastern Mediterranean basin. Four common garden experiments on the species were established in 1979 with six natural populations, each including 10 open-pollinated families from three zones of two altitudinal transects, extending from coastal areas to high elevations in Antalya region of Turkey. In this study, genetic variation among and within the populations at Duzlercami common-garden test site was investigated by six cpSSR markers. Six primers were analyzed, and all, except Pt36480, were found to be polymorphic. A total of 29 alleles were found in six populations for six primers (loci). Combinations of cpSSR alleles constituted 60 different haplotypes. The overall mean of Nei (1987)?s genetic diversity was found as 92.83%. The average mean distance among individuals within populations (D2sh) was 4.87, according to an Stepwise Mutation Model (SMM). The genetic differentiation among altitudinal population pairs in two transects, estimated using RST, was 4.97% (P < 0.0655). A high and significant level of the genetic variation was found to be among families within populations (RST = 10.75% and P < 0.0127). Data on quantitative trait(s) (total height and/or diameter) were also obtained in the test site at different ages (13, 17, 30 years). The degree of quantitative differentiation (QST) based on morphological data was higher values than molecular (FST) values in all traits and ages analyzed. There were parallelism between the results obtained from cpSSR markers and the results from quantitative traits. The differentiation in quantitative traits appears to be due to local adaptation of populations. Previous studies on quantitative traits in P. brutia indicate that seed-source elevation and within-population variation should be given priority in selection and breeding of the species. These findings are also supported by molecular data obtained by cpSSR markers in this study. Therefore, results from cpSSR markers appear to have a higher potential to determine genetic variation than common-garden experiments, which require many years to follow.