Genetic Characterization of Turkish Snake Melon (Cucumis melo L. subsp. melo flexuosus Group) Accessions Revealed by SSR Markers

Abstract

Snake melon is an important cucurbit crop especially in the Southeastern and the Mediterranean region of Turkey. It is consumed as fresh or pickled. The production is mainly done with the local landraces in the country. Turkey is one of the secondary diversification centers of melon and possesses valuable genetic resources which have different morphological characteristics in case of snake melon. Genetic diversity of snake melon genotypes collected from different regions of Turkey and reference genotypes obtained from World Melon Gene Bank in Avignon-France was examined using 13 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. A total of 69 alleles were detected, with an average of 5.31 alleles per locus. The polymorphism information content of SSR markers ranged from 0.19 to 0.57 (average 0.38). Based on cluster analysis, two major groups were defined. The first major group included only one accession (61), while the rest of all accessions grouped in the second major group and separated into different sub-clusters. Based on SSR markers, cluster analysis indicated that considerably high genetic variability exists among the examined accessions; however, Turkish snake melon accessions were grouped together with the reference snake melon accessions.

Characterizing Palestinian snake melon (Cucumis melo var. flexuosus) germplasm diversity and structure using SNP and DArTseq markers

“…Although several molecular markers have been successfully implemented to investigate the genetic diversity of melons and its close relatives including snake melon [ 12 – 15 ], availability of reliable, robust and economical marker platform is still lacking. In this study, the genetic diversity and population structure analyses of Palestinian snake melon genotypes collected from different areas of the Palestinian West Bank was conducted by GBS technology which offers a rapid, low-cost and high-throughput approach widely utilized to study genetic diversity in cultivated plants [ 48 ].…”

“…Several molecular markers have been successfully used to investigate the phylogenetic relationships and the genetic diversity of melons and its close relatives. Restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs), random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), simple sequence repeat (SSR), inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR), and amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) [ 12 – 15 ] have been used. Most of these marker systems are restricted in their applications because of the limitation on their availability, expensive when analyses are conducted on a large scale, and time-consuming process, which made them eventually outdated [ 16 ].…”

The Chemical Composition and Antioxidant Properties of Common Dandelion Leaves Compared to Sea Buckthorn

“…They are genetically very diverse and play a major role in modern society and economy. Fruits and vegetables are an important component of traditional food and are central to the healthy diets of modern urban populations (Hricová et al 2016;Sakar et al 2016;Saridaş et al 2016;Solmaz et al 2016). The common dandelion [Taraxacum officinale (Weber) ex Wigg.]…”

Development of RNA-Seq SSR Markers and Application to Genetic Relationship Analysis among Sea Buckthorn Germplasm

“…They are genetically a very diverse group and play a major role in modern society and economy. Fruit and vegetables are an important component of traditional food but are also central to healthy diets of modern urban populations (Hricova et al, 2016;Sakar et al, 2016;Saridas et al, 2016;Solmaz et al, 2016). Sea buckthorn, a thorny deciduous shrub with a distinctive tolerance to drought, cold, and salinity, is naturally distributed over Asia and Europe (Jain et al, 2010).…”