PRELIMINARY STUDY OF THE GENETIC STRUCTURE OF A CHESTNUT POPULATION IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC BASED ON SSR ANALYSIS

Twenty-one chestnut trees (Castanea sativa Mill.) were analyzed using SSR markers. For analysis, we used the SSR primers from the group CsCAT and EMC. The plant materials were harvested in the protected area in Nasavrky. We used the largest and the oldest trees from population in Nasavrky, in the Chrudim region of the Czech Republic. Knowledge of genetic structure will help explain the presence of marked phenotype differences between chestnuts in Czech Republic, will help to restore the original national subpopulation, and will clarify their relationship to other European populations.