Investigation of Genetic Diversity in Apple Scab (Venturia inaequalis) Isolated from Two Different Geographical Areas of Turkey

Abstract

Apple (Malus domestica) is a widely grown fruit in various climate types of the world and is exposed to the attack of many fungal disease agents during the growing period. One of them is Venturia inaequalis, which is probably the most important in terms of economic loss worldwide, which makes apple scab disease important in apple growing areas. In this study, the genetic diversity of apple scab in Bingol and Isparta provinces has been examined, which represent the two extremes of Turkey in terms of apple production. The 18 isolates obtained from these regions and were amplified by PCR using 7 RAPD primers. Polymorphic bands of the isolates were obtained by subjecting to agarose gel imaging. The average number of bands per primer was determined to be 3.91, with the highest polymorphic bands obtained from OPF04 encoded primer and the least polymorphic bands from OPG15 encoded primer. According to the clustering analysis, the total isolate population belongs to 5 different groups. Significant privileges were not observed between the two regions’s isolates It is thought that RAPD primers have a certain level to determine the diversity but not high levels of intra- and interregional variation in the isolates of V. inaequalis.