10th International Ecology Symposium , Bursa, Türkiye, 26 - 28 Kasım 2020, ss.151-162
Thyme (Thymus L.) has more than 400 species. Some species are herbaceous annuals and some
others are perennial plants that are extensively used for medicinal and spice purposes. This
study was undertaken to select suitable minisatellite primers to be used in the Td-DAMD-PCR
method and characterize 51 Thymus L. genotypes collected from 17 locations of Antalya flora.
The genetic diversity was studied with a touchdown-directed amplification of minisatelliteregion using DNA polymerase chain reaction (Td-DAMD-PCR) method. Seventeen TdDAMD-PCR-primers were found suitable for diversity studies of Thymus L. DNA markers
obtained from 17 primers were used to construct UPGMA dendrogram and spatial relationship
using the PCoA method. We concluded that genetic diversity of some species in the genus
Thymus L. is still problematic in defining the species boundary, probably due to crosspollination. Further studies are required to reanalyze taxa of Thymus L. with additional samples
collected from more locations and utilize other DNA markers. Further studies using chloroplast
and nuclear microsatellites would provide better resolution.