Genetic diversity and molecular characterization of natural Pancratium maritimum L. populations by DNA markers

Bulbous plants play an important role in Turkey's biodiversity due to their great potential use in various industries. Sea daffodils (Pancratium maritimum), one aspect of Turkey's biological richness, represent an important bulbous plant that generally spreads on sand dunes and can be seen only on the Mediterranean coast and on its certain beaches in our country. In this study, the genetic structure and genetic diversity of four natural P. maritimum populations have been determined by RAPD and nrSSR primers. Eight RAPD and four nrSSR loci were analyzed. All RAPD and nrSSR loci, except SSR-20, were found to be polymorphic. Genetic diversity parameters such as mean number of alleles for each nrSSR loci (N-a = 3.313), effective allele number (N-e = 2.190), Shannon's information index (I = 0.728), observed heterozygosity (H-o = 0.449) and expected heterozygosity (H-e = 0.396) were calculated. A rather high proportion of the genetic diversity (81% for nrSSR, 72% for RAPD) was due to within-population variation and the remaining part was due to variation between populations. According to the acquired UPGMA phenogram for RAPD and nrSSR data, the Igneada and Camlikoy populations, which are geographically close, are also genetically the most similar populations. The STRUCTURE analysis results supported the constructed UPGMA phenogram for the studied sea daffodil populations. The results of this study include important information about the genetic structure of the studied populations.Namik Kemal University, Scientific Research Projects UnitNamik Kemal University [NKUBAP.00.24.AR.13.20, NKUBAP.03.YL.15.005]We appreciate Namik Kemal University, Scientific Research Projects Unit (Project No: NKUBAP.00.24.AR.13.20 and NKUBAP.03.YL.15.005), for its financial support. We also thank Petru Golban (English Language and Literature Department, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Namik Kemal University) for improving the English of the manuscript