Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) gene pool was analyzed with 117 microsatellite markers scattered throughout A, B, and D genomes. Ninety microsatellite markers were giving 1620 polymorphic alleles in 55 different bread wheat genotypes. These genotypes were found to be divided into three subgroups based on Bayesian model and Principal component analysis. The highest polymorphism information content value for the markers resides on A genome was estimated for wmc262 marker located on 4A chromosome with the polymorphism information content value of 0.960. The highest polymorphism information content value (0.954) among the markers known to be located on B genome was realized for wmc44 marker located on 1B chromosome. The highest polymorphism information content value for the markers specific to D genome was found in gwm174 marker located on 5D chromosome with the polymorphism information content value of 0.948. The presence of linkage disequilibrium between 81 pairwise SSR markers reside on the same chromosome was tested and very limited linkage disequilibrium was observed. The results confirmed that the most distant genotype pairs were as follows Ceyhan-99-Behoth 6, Gerek 79-Douma 40989, and Karahan-99-Douma 48114.

Origanum (L.) is a genus of herbaceous perennials with culinary and medicinal uses with many species found in the Mediterranean region. The taxonomic classification of species belonging to this genus has been studied using morphological, biochemical and genetic diversity analyses. In this study, the genetic diversity of 22 Turkish Origanum species (including 24 taxa from eight sections) was examined with 46 herbarium specimens from the Mediterranean, Eastern Anatolian, Central Anatolian, and Black Sea regions of Turkey. Molecular marker data were generated from 25 SRAP primer pairs and six EST-SSR primers which produced 325 alleles. Dendrogram, principal coordinate and population structure analyses revealed the relationships among Origanum sections, species and individuals. Gene flow (PhiPT and Nm) was also studied for a deeper understanding of the relationships and hybridization patterns between sections and species. Molecular separation of the Origanums roughly corresponded to the taxonomy that Ietswaart proposed in 1980 but also suggested that hybridization among sections and species may result in convergence and/or divergence of different sections and species.

Plum is an important fruit worldwide and has high nutritional value. Prunus cerasifera Ehrh., a type of European plum species, is very popular in Turkey and is usually eaten at the green, unripe stage. In this work for the first time, the genetic diversity and population structure of the 66 accessions housed in the Turkish National P. cerasifera collection were investigated using molecular markers. A total of 47 Sequence-Related Amplified Polymorphism (SRAP) primer pairs were used and found to be highly polymorphic with 98% of the 495 amplified alleles providing polymorphism. Average diversity of the accessions was 0.39 as determined using the dice coefficient and was similar to P. cerasifera germplasm from France, Iran and Belarus but higher than that from China. This difference was expected as Turkey, Iran and Belarus are within the geographical origin of this species which was distributed to Europe during ancient times. The genetic relationships among accessions of the germplasm collection were assessed using unweighted neighbor joining dendrogram and population structure analyses. The dendrogram and population structure results were strongly correlated as both methods clustered the material into two main groups with a much smaller third admixed group. The analysis also indicated that Can and Papaz types, despite their morphological differences are not genetically distinct and provides information about genetic relationships that can be used in future plum breeding.

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