Determination of genetic variation in natural populations of cedar (Cedrus libani A.Rich.)

ABSTRACT DETERMINATION OF GENETIC VARIATION IN NATURAL POPULATIONS OF CEDAR {Cedrus Uhani AJtick.) YıısııfKURT M. S. in Biology Advisor; Prof. Dr. Kfaıi IŞIK June, 20İ5, 74 pages Genetic variation in four natural populations of Taurus cedar {Cedrus tibani A.Rich.) was determined with isoenzyme analyses in the study. Isozymes from 12 enzyme systems extracted from haploid female gametophytes of the seeds were separated by horizontal starch jel electrophoresis. The results showed that total of 16 loci and 37 alleles were observed in studying 12 enzymes systems. Average proportion of polimorphic loci for populations ranged from 43.8% to 62.5%. The average number of alleles per locus per population was 2.0. Very high proportion of genetic variation was due to differences within populations (98.07%). Mean estimated expected-heterozygosity (He) of population was 0.165. The level of gene flow (Nem) was found to be 12.7 per generation. Nei's genetic distance coefficient ranged from 0.003 to 0.008 among the all possible population pairs. The mean value of Nei's genetic distance (0.005) confirmed the hypothesis that the variation among populations is low. KEY WORDS : Cedrus libani, Taurus cedar, isoenzymes, genetic variation, geographical variation, starch jel electrophoresis COMMTTEE: Prof. Dr. KM IŞIK (Advisor) Prof. Dr. Kenan TURGUT Asst. Prof. Dr. Nuray KAYA ıı