Evaluation of the genetic relationship between Fritillaria species from Turkey’s flora using fluorescent-based AFLP

In this study, the genetic relationships among 12 Fritillaria taxa collected from different regions of Turkey were investigated using the amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) technique. Seven primer pair combinations were used for the analysis. The neighbor-joining and principal coordinate analysis methods were implemented to identify the taxonomy of the species. The analyses generated congruent results with each other and with the previous studies. The neighbor-joining analysis clustered the species into 3 groups, while the principal coordinates analysis did not support separation of the third group. The subgenera Fritillaria and Petilium diverged from each other with strong support in all analyses. The neighbor-joining tree further divided the members of subgenus Fritillaria into 2 subgroups. Statistical analysis of the data set using NTSYS 2.1 showed a very good fit between the data matrix and the cophenetic matrix for the AFLP data with an r-value of 0.91. Generating a high polymorphic band profile, this analysis presented the feasibility of using AFLP for a genetic relationship analysis of Fritillaria. This primary report on AFLP analysis of Fritillaria species could facilitate achieving a deeper understanding of genetic relationships between the species.