Transcriptome analysisand development of SSR markers in Sumac (Rhus coriariaL.), and population structure analysis of sumac in Turkey

Abstract Sumac ( Rhus coriaria L.) is known for medicinal properties since at least the time of Theophrastus in the ancient Graeco-Roman time. Indeed, in the last decade, vast number of scientific papers demonstrated the benefits of multifunctional sumac in pharmaceutical, food, and textile industries. However, genetic and genomic information is scarce for sumac. In this study, RNA-seq transcriptome data consisting of 72,554 unigenes with an average length of 869 nt was produced for sumac. The transcripts were considered for further downstream analysis of GO, COG, and KEGG. The sumac transcripts showed highest mapping rate to pistachio genome (97%) followed by poison ivy (95%) and mango (91%). In total, 11.177 SSR loci di-, tri- tetra-, penta-, and hexa-nucleotide motif loci with minimum of 5 repeats were identified. Phylogenetic and structure analysis of 64 sample collected from a wide geographic region in Turkey were studied with eight polymorphic SSR loci. Structure analysis showed existence of two sub-populations in sumac in Turkey. The bushes located in residential areas and used for sumac production were found to be genetically unique as so non-residential bushes. This demonstrates that sumac growing since ancient time has not resulted in selection of superior cultivar, followed by clonal propagation and transfer of clones between territories.