Genetic diversity and population structure in caprifigs (Ficus carica var. caprificus) using SSR markers

Abundant wild and cultivated fig germplasm can be found in Turkey, a center of diversity for figs; however, many of these valuable genetic resources have not yet been identified or characterized using molecular markers. In the present study, microsatellite markers were used to characterize a set of 96 caprifig (Ficus carica var. caprificus) accessions from Turkey. The caprifig accessions showed considerable polymorphism with an average of 8.3 alleles per locus. The number of alleles per locus varied from three for the loci LMFC18 and LMFC23, to 14 for the loci FCUPO38-6 and FCUPO08. Genetic distance values and cluster analyses revealed high genetic similarities, except for the reference group, among the caprifig groups. Factorial correspondence analysis also separated the caprifig groups, suggesting that caprifig populations from Turkey were unmixed, probably because of low gene flow, likely because germplasm has not yet been moved among geographical areas and because many caprifig populations arose from propagation by seed. In our population structure analysis, the caprifig accessions could be grouped according to the regions from where they were sampled. Our molecular data revealed great genetic diversity within this caprifig germplasm. This genetically rich caprifig germplasm resource will be useful for both fig breeding programs and analysis of the complex genetic structure of figs that reproduce using various pollination strategies