Genetic relationships among Prunus rootstocks for sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.) cultivars

Abstract

Sweet cherries can be grafted on a wide range of rootstocks belonging to Prunus avium, Prunus cerasus, Prunus mahaleb, Prunus angustifolia or hybrids of different Prunus species. Identification of Prunus rootstocks using morphological traits is almost impossible particularly during the dormant season. However, molecular analysis carried out on actively growing shoot tips, leaves or dormant buds provides good opportunity to reliably distinguish rootstocks. In this study, DNA was extracted from the leaves of a total of 184 sweet cherry rootstock candidates belonging to P. avium L., P. cerasus L., P. mahaleb L. and P. angustifolia L. previously selected from the north-western part of Turkey. The rootstock candidates were tested with ten simple sequence repeat (SSR) primers, developed for the Prunus genus. The primers successfully identified all rootstock candidates. The results showed that the number of alleles per locus ranged from 10 (UDAp-401, UCD-CH21 and CPSCT010) to 20 (UCD-CH31) with an average of 13.3 alleles per locus, indicating that the SSRs were highly informative. Unweighted Pair-Group Method with Arithmetic mean analysis demonstrated that P. avium accessions are closely related to P. cerasus. The reference rootstocks were clustered with their associated botanical species.

Molecular identification and genetic analysis of cherry cultivars using capillary electrophoresis with fluorescence-labeled SSR markers

“…Sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.) is an important fruit in temperate regions of the world (Wünsch and Hormaza 2002) and its production has rapidly developed, because the numerous cultivated varieties exhibit early maturity with good quality, highly nutritious large and brightly colored fruit with moderate sweet and sour flavors. In contemporary tree fruit production, the selection of rootstocks is an important long-term management decision that may influence fruit production and quality (Turkoglu et al 2012;Ognjanov et al 2015). Due to their effective stress resistance, early fruiting, and dwarfing, Prunus mahaleb, P. cerasus, and P. pseudocerasus are currently widely used in cherry production as rootstocks.…”

Characterization and comparative analysis of the complete chloroplast genome sequence from Prunus avium ‘Summit’

“…Nuclear SSRs have been recognized as powerful and advantageous genetic markers due to its abundance in genomes, high degree of polymorphism, and co-dominance. A variety of SSR markers have been applied to the analysis of genetic variability, cultivar identification, parentage assessment, and quality control of rootstock in P. avium (Guarino et al, 2009; Lacis et al, 2009; Turkoglu et al, 2012; DeRogatis et al, 2013; Ivanovych & Volkov, 2017). Additionally, Molecular markers of cpDNA have been successfully used for assessment of genetic diversity in P. avium cultivars and populations.…”

Fruit quality parameters and molecular analysis of apple germplasm resourcesfrom Van Lake Basin, Turkey

“…New cultivars are constantly being introduced, which may cause further difficulties in their identification. The possibility of erroneous cultivar determination meant that molecular techniques were needed to allow precise identification of genotypes (Eroğul, 2009;Bayazit et al, 2011;Turkoglu et al, 2012;Ozyurt et al, 2013).…”

“…New cultivars are constantly being introduced, which may cause further difficulties in their identification. The possibility of erroneous cultivar determination meant that molecular techniques were needed to allow precise identification of genotypes (Eroğul, 2009;Bayazit et al, 2011;Turkoglu et al, 2012;Ozyurt et al, 2013).Characterization of genetic resource collections has also been greatly facilitated by the availability of a number of molecular marker systems. Morphological traits were among the earliest markers used in germplasm management, but they have a number of limitations, including low polymorphism, low heritability, late expression, and vulnerability to environmental influences (Smith and Smith, 1992).…”