CAPS and DAMD-PCR assays for species identification of Convolvulus L. (Convolvulaceae)

Abstract

Convolvulus is the second largest genus consisting of approximately 250 species within the family Convolvulacea [1]. Some Convolvulus species are important weeds which cause economic losses in the field crops and some other species have valuable medicinal properties. Many species in the genus Convolvulus have phenotypic plasticity which is the ability of an organism to change its morphology, physiology or development in response to environmental changes. Due to the phenotypic plasticity and natural hybridization between taxa, identification of some of the species in the genus is problematic or impossible using morphological markers. Among the molecular markers, DNA sequence variations have been extensively used in plant improvement and identification studies [2,3,4]. This study utilized a total of 42 plant samples collected throughout Turkey and containing 12 different species to investigate potential Cleaved Amplified Polymorphic Sequence (CAPS) and Directed Amplification of Minisatellite-region DNA (DAMD-PCR) markers suitable in identification of species. Total DNAs were extracted using a DNA extraction method described in [5]. Results indicated that in comparison to mitochondrial gene segments, chloroplast gene segments were diagnostically useful in plant identification in Convolvulus. For instance amplified products of chloroplast trnH-psbA regions produced valuable markers after digestion with Hinf I and Vsp I restriction enzymes. CAPS assays using the nuclear ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacers (ITS) and Hinf I enzyme digestion produced species specific markers. This study also indicated that DAMD-PCR assays were very useful in plant and species identification in Convolvulus. This study is the first report of DAMD-PCR application on Convolvulus.