Determination of genetic diversity among some naturally growing Arbutus andrachne L. genotypes in Türkiye using morphological, biochemical, and molecular markers

The strawberry tree (Arbutus andrachne L.) is a wild edible fruit that grows naturally in the Mediterranean climate zone, including Türkiye. In this study, the genetic morphological, biochemical, and genetic diversity of 10 superior strawberry tree genotypes growing naturally in Antalya Province in Türkiye were investigated. Morphological and biochemical characterization were performed based on some important fruit characteristics. In addition, genetic variation was detected at the molecular level using simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. The genotypes exhibited fruit weight, width, length, and shape index values of 1.22–2.12 g, 12.07–15.28 mm, 10.15–14.24 mm, and 0.99–2.22, respectively. The biochemical parameters soluble solid content (SSC), vitamin C, total antioxidant capacity, malic acid, citric acid, fructose, and glucose were in the range of 22.17%–27.2%, 49.37–151.33 mg 100 g–1, 17.08–34.18 µmol TE g–1 fw, 3.01–6.02 g 100 g–1, 0.43–2.30 g 100 g–1, 4.55–9.05 g 100 g–1, and 3.30–6.70 g 100 g–1, respectively. Gallic acid was the major phenolic acid (3.10–12.13 mg 100 g–1). In molecular analysis using 5 SSR loci, a total of 39 polymorphic alleles were determined. The highest number of alleles was obtained from CA421f (13 alleles) and VCC_12 (10 alleles). Expected heterozygosity and observed heterozygosity ranged from 0.61 to 0.70 and from 0.65 to 0.78, respectively. The results of this study indicate the importance of germplasm resources of Arbutus andrachne L.