ASSESSMENT OF GENETIC VARIATION IN WILD MYRTLE (MYRTUS COMMUNIS L.) GENOTYPES GROWING AROUND THE MEDITERRANEAN REGION OF TURKEY

Myrtle (Myrtus communis) grows naturally on the Mediterranean coast and the Aegean region of Turkey and is used as medicine, food and ornamental plant. Availability of genetic resources with genetic diversity constitutes an important material for researching genes that may be needed in future breeding studies. The goal of this study was to analyze the genetic diversity of the myrtle genotypes in order to develop further cultivation, regeneration or breeding strategies. Nine traits (length, width, weight and color of the fruit, number of seeds, weight of seeds, pulp weight, length, and width of the leaf) were evaluated. PCR amplification was performed using Simple Sequence Repeats (SSR) and Inter- Primer Binding (iPBS) primers. The variation was found between genotypes in terms of the morphological characters considered. Using molecular analyses, the genetic diversity among the genotypes was determined based on the 64 SSR and 80 polymorphic iPBS bands. The genetic variation obtained by morphological and molecular analyses shows that these genotypes may be useful for future breeding and cultivation practices and can be considered as valuable genetic resources. It has also been shown that some of the iPBS primers were highly polymorphic and can be used in phylogenetic analyzes and mapping studies of myrtle.