Characterization, conservation, and utilization of genetic resources is essential for the sustainability in agriculture. Plant genetic resources are important for breeding efforts designed for the generation of new cultivars or for the improvement of existing ones. Green bean has been cultivated extensively in Turkey giving rise to local accessions through selection over time and adaptation to various environmental conditions. The objective of the present study was to determine the genetic relationships of green bean accessions collected from Kırşehir Province of Turkey, located at the central Anatolia. Within a population of 275 green bean accessions, 50 accessions were selected on the basis of morphological observations for further evaluation with SSR and STS/SCAR markers together with 4 reference cultivars of Andean and Mesoamerican origin. SSR markers selected on the basis of high polymorphism information content revealed the genetic relatedness of selected green bean accessions. STS/SCAR markers associated with bean anthracnose, common bacterial blight, white mold, halo blight, and phaseolin protein demonstrated the inheritance of resistance traits of local accessions at the selected loci. These findings may help better utilize genetic resources and furthermore are expected to facilitate forthcoming breeding studies for the generation of novel cultivars well adapted to the region.

Anthracnose disease, caused by the fungal pathogen Colletotricum lindemuthianum brings about great yield losses in the Blacksea Region of Turkey. The present study is carried out to start the resistance breeding program against anthracnose disease. Five pathogenic strains (2175, 3071, 3303, 3321, 4071) identified previously from Blacksea Region were inoculated on seven foreign anthracnose resistant varieties of fresh bean (MDRK, PM, Kaboon, Widusa, Machinac, Isles and Chinook) as well as on nine breeding lines (T23, TK57, TK1, Ç31, Ç28, T7, T26, TK15 and T21) which were developed as Ayşe kadın type by pure-line selection, a method used for self-pollinated crops. Results indicated that while all the foreign varieties were resistant to these pathogen strains, the pure-lines were all susceptible. Thus foreign varieties and pure-lines were selected as parents to perform 63 combinations of genetic cross with the intention to start anthracnose resistance breeding program, only 18 of which produced seed. Through self fertilization of 360 F 1 plants an F 2 population of 4365 plants were obtained which were phenotyped for resistance both by inoculation with five pathogen strains as well as using resistance gene (Co-1) linked molecular marker (SEactMcca). Since Ayşe Kadın type lines are of Andean origin and Co-1 locus controls resistance against Andean pathogens additional confirmation of Co-1 presence in the resistant F 2 lines is of great importance. Marker screening results indicated the presence of Co-1 gene in 6 out of 18 hybrid lines. Confirmation of resistance trait inheritance on 6 F 2 lines both by inoculations as well as molecular marker screening for Co-1 gene have given us the opportunity to continue with the backcross studies with high confidence. With this study anthracnose resistance breeding has been initiated in Turkey for the first time and molecular marker assisted selection has been integrated into the breeding program.