title: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Cukurova, 01330, Saricam-Adana, Turkey. isolmaz@cu.edu.tr.
authors.forename: Ilknur
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Solmaz
authors.affiliation: Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Cukurova, 01330, Saricam-Adana, Turkey.
authors.forename: Yildiz Aka
authors.initials: YA
authors.lastname: Kacar
authors.affiliation: Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Cukurova, 01330, Saricam-Adana, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ozhan
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Simsek
authors.affiliation: Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Cukurova, 01330, Saricam-Adana, Turkey.
authors.forename: Nebahat
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sari
mesh_terms: D016000:Cluster Analysis; D028463:Cucumis melo / Q000235:genetics*; D018744:DNA, Plant / Q000235:genetics*; D005787:Gene Frequency; D014644:Genetic Variation; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D010802:Phylogeny; D014421:Turkey
chemical_list: D018744:DNA, Plant
keywords: Molecular characterization; SSR markers; Snake melon; UPGMA