Morphological and molecular phylogeny of Pistacia species in Turkey

This study addresses the taxonomic relationships and genetic variation of w ild Pistacia germplasm in Turkey using morphological data and RAPD analysis . P. atlantica, P. terebinthus and P. eurycarpa are common wild species in the flora of Turkey, and their phenotypic appearance and productivity are h ighly variable. Understanding such variation would facilitate their use in rootstock breeding programs as rootstock for edible pistachio. We have samp led and characterized a total of 40 wild Pistacia genotypes from different parts of Turkey for this study. These included 10 P. eurycarpa (locally ide ntified as P. khinjuk) genotypes from Siirt and Gaziantep provinces and 20 P. atlantica and 10 P. terebinthus genotypes from Adana, Aydin and Manisa p rovinces. In addition, two local P. vera varieties, cvs. Kirmizi and Siirt, were added for comparison. Cluster analysis based on morphological data re vealed that the closest species to P. vera is P. eurycarpa, followed by P. atlantica and P. terebinthus. Ten polymorphic RAPD primers, yielding a tota l of 138 scorable bands, were selected and used for DNA fingerprinting of t hese genotypes. In the resulting molecular phylogeny, the four Pistacia spe cies are clearly separated from each other. P. terebinthus appears to be th e most diverged species, and the closest pair of species was found to be P. atlantica and P. eurycarpa. This supported the classification of trees tha t had been identified by local growers as P. khinjttk, as P. eurycarpa. Com parison of these samples with a reference P khinjuk, obtained from a germpl asm collection in the USA, also supported such identification. Several wild genotypes were found to be inter-specific hybrids, and the RAPD patterns r evealed their probable origin. Species-specific markers were identified for each of the four species, and these may aid in future classification of ne w germplasm materials.