Determination of genetic diversity between male and female genotypes of fig (Ficus carica L.) and development of male/female individual specific molecular markers

The fig (Ficus carica L.) has been an important food source throughout human history used for both dry and fresh consumption. Turkey has an important place in the world fig production and exportation. To maintain its position in the world market, developing superior varieties is a necessity. The use of molecular markers in breeding studies will help the breeding program to progress more quickly and effectively. In woody plants because of the long-juvenility period, development of molecular marker is even more important than annual plants. The studies on developing molecular markers for important features and identification of genetic resources in fruit crops are limited in our country. In this study, genetic diversity among 64 fig genotypes, 32 males and 32 females was determined using AFLP and SSR markers. A total of 42 SSR primers produced 138 bands of which 113 were polymorphic (81%). A total of 905 bands were obtained with 10 AFLP primer combinations and 374 of them were found to be polymorphic (41%). Similarity matrix and dendrogram were generated for each marker systems separately and with combined data as well. A mantel test was performed by using the similarity matrices of two marker systems and an acceptable correlation (r=0.58) was obtained between the AFLP and SSR matrices. Although there are promising polymorphic bands for discrimination of female and male genotypes, no markers have been found to be robust. The reliability of recently developed CAPS marker by Mori et al. 2017 has been tested in both sex-type known genotypes from the core collection of fig genetic resources and in F1 population obtained from crossing 'Bursa Siyahı'x'Ak İlek' genotypes.