RAPD profiling in detecting genetic variation in Glaucium (papaveraceae) species: Edible and medicinal plant

Abstract

Glaucium is a genus belonging to Papaveraceae subfam. Chelidonoideae Ernest that contains about 23 species. The distribution of Glaucium species relatively widely covers western Asia and the Mediterranean region and is decreased from central Asia to the European countries. As a country, Iran harbors relatively more species of the genus Glaucium (10 species) and hence, this country is considered as the hot spot of the genus. No detailed Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) studies were conducted to study Glaucium genetic diversity. Therefore, we collected and analyzed three species from 6 provinces of Iran regions. Overall, 60 plant specimens were collected. Our aims were 1) to assess genetic diversity among Glaucium species 2) is there a correlation between species genetic and geographical distance? 3) Genetic structure of populations and taxa. We showed significant differences in quantitative morphological characters in plant species. G. flavum var. serpieri depicted unbiased expected heterozygosity (UHe) in the range of 0.188. The Mantel test showed correlation (r = 0.66, p=0.0001) between genetic and geographical distances. We reported high genetic diversity, which clearly shows the Glaucium species can adapt to changing environments since high genetic diversity is linked to species adaptability. Present results highlighted the utility of RAPD markers and morphometry methods to investigate genetic diversity in Glaucium species.