Abstract
BackgroundIn the present investigation, two genera of family Labiatae (genus Origanum and genus Thymus including their available species in Egypt) were analyzed genetically on DNA level using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers. Four selective primer combinations (E-AGC/M-CAA, E-AGC/M-CAC, E-AGG/M-CTC, and E-ACC/M-CAT) were used to detect genetic variations (polymorphisms) within and between the studied plant species of each genus and with their cultivated relatives. ResultsA total of 193 amplified fragments were obtained overall primer combinations with a disparity in the number of bands for each primer combination. The primer combination E-AGG/M-CTC exhibited a large number of amplicons (67) compared to the other primers with polymorphism percentage 69%. The polymorphism information content (PIC) was calculated for the four primer combinations showing a very high values ranging between 0.98 and 0.99. On the other hand, Thymus species (Thymus vulgaris, Thymus capitatus L., and Thymus decassatus Benth.) exhibited a total number of 171 amplicons for all primer combinations with an average of 42 bands. The primer combination E-AGG/M-CTC produced the largest number of bands (62 bands) with polymorphism percentage 35%, even though the primer combination AGC/M-CAA was more efficient to give high polymorphisms within Thymus species where it resulted in a total of 35 bands with polymorphism percentage 63%. The PIC values were calculated ranging from 0.96 to 0.99. ConclusionOne can conclude that AFLP technique was informative and efficient technique to give a good coverage of Origanum and Thymus genomes. Furthermore, it was helpful to elucidate the genetic variations and phylogenetic relationships within the studied species as a basis for further studies on these genera and related species.
Highlights
In the present investigation, two genera of family Labiatae were analyzed genetically on Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) level using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers
AFLP profiles showed a large number of bands (193) differing in size and ranging between 105 and 1100 bp with polymorphism percentage 53% for all primer combinations (Table 2)
It produced a total number of 40 bands ranging in size from 130 to 990 bp of which, 14 bands were monomorphic while 26 bands were polymorphic with polymorphism percentage (65%) (Fig. 1 and Table 2)
Summary
Two genera of family Labiatae (genus Origanum and genus Thymus including their available species in Egypt) were analyzed genetically on DNA level using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers. The medicinal importance includes their effect on gastrointestinal diseases such as diarrhea, stomach pain, colic, and gastric ulcers; respiratory diseases (e.g., asthma, cough and chest pain) [29]; abnormal menstrual cycles [10]; kidney and liver diseases; metabolic, hormonal, and neuronal disorders; skin; and urogenital system diseases [29] They have been used as sedatives and, due to their biocidal properties, as antiparasitic and anthelmintic [10, 15]. Origanum has been used to control diabetes and obesity such as O. vulgare which can delay the development of diabetic complications and correct metabolic abnormalities due to its hypoglycemic property [26] These plants have antibacterial and antifungal activities which give them a very important role for treating infectious diseases, and for use as food preservatives as they much delay microbial growth and better preserved food. Tumors are being very difficult to treat because of its enormous complexity and variability, some Origanum species demonstrated antitumor and cytotoxic activity against several cell lines such as (O. vulgare, O. syriacum, O. dictamnus, O. mycrophyllum, O. libanoticum, O. majorana, O. compactum, and O. onites) as proved by [5,6,7, 14, 16, 22, 31]
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