Genetic variations in Turkey cultivar and ecotype Medicago sativa species: cytological, total protein profile, and molecular characterization.

Background: Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is a perennial plant, which is high in nutritional value and resistant to environmental conditions, and it is one of most frequently preferred feed crop among the leguminous family. In this study, it was aimed to determine the genetic diversity of some alfalfa ecotypes and their varieties by DNA, protein, nucleus, and chromosome counts. The genetic distance between the populations of control (M. truncatula), five different cultivars (Alsancak, Bilensoy, Iside, Plato, Bilensoy82), and three different ecotypes (Erzurum, Muş, and Konya) was investigated by cytogenetic analysis, flow cytometry, simple sequence repeats (SSR), and SDS PAGE techniques.

Results: Cytogenetic analysis of these tested plants has verified the existence of expected levels such as diploid, triploid, and tetraploid as well as aneuploid (2n = 4x = 30) plants. Flow cytometry analysis have displayed that all of tested plants were tetraploid, whereas cytological analysis had either diploid, triploid, or tetraploid. Genetic diversity dendrogram was created using Erzurum, Muş, Konya, Bilensoy82, Alsancak, and Plato varieties. The Iside and Bilensoy were found to be morphogenetic in relationship. Our control plant, M. truncatula, did not have a similarity relationship with other ecotypes and cultivars. The total numbers of protein bands differed among tested plants from 140 kDA to 25 kDa.

Conclusions: This paper first reports on the genetic variation of Turkish alfalfa plants by using detailed analysis techniques. This work provides important findings for the classification, conservation, and innovation of alfalfa germplasm resources.