IntroductionMastic trees are commonly known as evergreen pistachio or lentisk. In Turkey lentisk shares its habitat with Pistacia terebinthus L., olives, carob, and others, but it prefers welldrained to dry sandy or stony alkaline soil conditions (Ak and Parlakcı, 2009). Mastic trees show a peculiar adaptability to several climatic conditions (Zohary, 1952) and have positive biological characteristics, such as drought tolerance (Correia and Catarino, 1994) and protection of soil against erosion (Mulas and Deidda, 1998). However, the area that is suitable for mastic tree cultivation is limited in the world. Today a major limitation facing the widespread expansion of commercial mastic tree plantations is the shortage of superior plants, primarily because of the difficulties experienced in propagating this species using the traditional method of rooting the cuttings. Currently mastic trees are proliferated by seed, with the rational development of hereditary instability and great discrepancy in the formation degree among genotypes because of obstacles such as parthenocarpy and ovary aborticide (Grundwag, 1976). Vegetative propagation by cutting is also difficult due to impoverished or adventitious roots. Conventional propagation methods to improve Pistacia species such as P. lentiscus L. are limited because species belonging to the genus Pistacia have a long stage of juvenility. In addition, plants originating from seeds often do not maintain the genetic purity of the parent plants due to segregation and recombination of genetic characteristics during sexual reproduction. Thus, to improve trade, a vegetative propagation technique must be developed for large-scale propagation. Possible ways to move forward are necessary in order to avoid problems in vegetative propagation and to produce clonal stocks.
Micropropagation of lentisk genotypes has been achievedAbstract: An in vitro propagation method was established for both male and female genotypes of lentisk using actively growing shoot tips derived from forcefully lignified shoots. The effects of growth regulators on in vitro morphogenesis were investigated. Since rooting of the regenerated shoots for both genotypes was not achieved, an in vitro micrografting method was developed for the production of plantlets. Moreover, genetic stability of 3-, 6-, and 24-times subcultured clones of both genotypes was assessed and compared with the mother plants using fluorescent-based amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analysis. The set of main plants and the different subcultured clones were divided into two clusters. In the first cluster, the original male and female plants were grouped together with the 3-times subcultured female and the 6-times subcultured male and female groups, whereas the second cluster contained the 24-times subcultured clones and the 3-times subcultured male group. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of successfully inducing plantlets from mature lentisk genotypes and the first analysis of clonal fidelity of regenerated mature...