Abstract
Duckweeds, or Lemnaceae, are widespread aquatic plants. Morphology-based identification of duckweed species is difficult because of their structural complexity. Hence, molecular tools provide significant advantages for characterizing and selecting species or clones for sustainable commercial use. In this study, we collected and characterized ten duckweed isolates from nine different regions in Saudi Arabia (SA). Based on the morphological characterization and phylogenetic analysis of intergenic spacer sequences of chloroplast DNA using six barcoding markers, the clones were classified into three genera, represented by seven species: Lemna gibba L., Lemna minor L., Lemna japonica Landolt, Lemna aequinoctialis Welw., Lemna perpusilla Torr., Spirodela polyryiza (L.) Schleid., and Landoltia punctate G. Mey. Lemna gibba was revealed to be a distinct dominant duckweed species in many regions of SA. Five barcoding markers showed that L. gibba, L. minor, and L. punctata were the most widely distributed species in the country. However, L. punctata, L. perpusilla, and S. polyryiza were the dominant species in the Al-Qassim, Madinah-1, and Madinah-2 regions, respectively. Moreover, the morphological traits revealed variations for these clones, relative to other studied duckweed clones. According to the results obtained in this study, three out of six plastid markers (trnH-psbA, matK, and atpF-atpH) helped to identify the dominant duckweed species in Saudi Arabia. Further evaluation based on adaptability, molecular genetic studies, and functional genomics is needed for these species to be used at the commercial level in Saudi Arabia.
Highlights
Under the arid conditions of Saudi Arabia, the agricultural sector plays a significant role in food security for humans and animals, as well as economic, social, and sustainable development
The present study aimed to assess the genetic variability based on morphological traits and molecular (DNA barcoding) markers among duckweed clones collected from m
The current study identifies similar results, i.e., L. gibba, L. minor, L. japonica, and L. aequinoctialis using the morphological and molecular combined data
Summary
Under the arid conditions of Saudi Arabia, the agricultural sector plays a significant role in food security for humans and animals, as well as economic, social, and sustainable development. At the morphological level, delineating duckweed species has been shown to be difficult. Many studies have tried to decrease the anatomical complexity based on the chemical composition of flavonoids [4] and to delineate duckweed species using allozyme, which has helped advance morphology techniques [5,6]. Among the various DNA analysis methods for taxonomic definition, molecular taxonomy is considered the most suitable method for identifying and evaluating the genetic potential of duckweed species [9]. There are only a few studies in the literature on identifying duckweed genera and species in Saudi Arabia. The present study aimed to assess the genetic variability based on morphological traits and molecular (DNA barcoding) markers among duckweed clones collected from m
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