Relationships among Diploid Members of the Medicago sativa (Fabaceae) Species Complex Based on Chloroplast and Mitochondrial DNA Sequences

Abstract

Abstract The Medicago sativa species complex includes tetraploid cultivated alfalfa and several other diploid and tetraploid taxa that are recognized either as subspecies of M. sativa or as separate species. The two principal diploid taxa are “caerulea,” with purple flowers and coiled pods, and “falcata” with yellow flowers and falcate pods. To understand the evolutionary relationships among taxa in the complex, sequence variation in two noncoding regions of cpDNA (rpl20—rps12 and tmS—tmG spacers) and three regions of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA: nad4 intron, nad7 intron, and rpS14—cob spacer) were surveyed from 48 (37 for mtDNA) individuals representing these and other diploid taxa in the complex. These sequences afforded independent perspectives on the evolutionary history of the group, because mtDNA is maternally inherited in Medicago whereas cpDNA is biparentally inherited with strong paternal bias. Twenty and 21 haplotypes were identified for cpDNA and mtDNA, respectively. Haplotype networks were constr...