Determining the genetic diversity of some black cumin genotypes collected in different regions of Türkiye using RAPD markers

Abstract

Black cumin is one of the important medicinal aromatic plants belonging to the Ranunculaceae family. It is mostly used in the Middle East and for some diseases, especially in the Iranian region. It is important to know the genetic resources of such important medicinal and aromatic plants. Characterization of genetic resources sheds light on both the conservation of genetic resources and the future breeding studies. In this study, a total of 8 black cumin plants were characterized with 17 RAPD primers. Presence (1) and absence (0) scoring of gel images was performed using the Agarose Gel Electrophoresis (AGE) method. In genetic characterization, phylogenetic dendrogram with Bayesian statistics and Principal Coordinate Analysis (PCoA) with Jaccard similarity index were performed. As a result of the findings, the Nigella damascena, one of the black cumin plant species, was 100% separated from the Nigella sativa species. Additionally, Nigella sativa species differed among Konya, Eskişehir and Çameli genotypes. It gave similar results to Bayesian statistics in PCoA. The analysis indicated that Konya, Eskişehir and Çameli genotypes of Nigella sativa species have a higher potential to be used in breeding studies compared to other genotypes.