Genetic variability analysis in Peganum harmala L. by SCoT and SRAP molecular markers

摘要

Peganum harmala L. is a perennial herbaceous plant and it has long been used for medicinal purposes as herbicide due to the presence of harmine. P. harmala is a famous medicinal plant used in the Iranian traditional medicine, due to the antimicrobial compounds found in its seeds and roots. Population genetic study is an essential scientific approach for studying medicinal plants; as it produces data on genetic variability, genetic structure, and gene flow versus genetic fragmentation of these plants. We have no detailed information on genetic structure of this plant species in the country. Therefore, a through population genetic study was conducted in four geographical populations of these valuable plants by using start codon targeted (SCoT), and sequence related amplified polymorphic (SRAP) molecular markers. Both these molecular markers are highly reproducible and polymorphic molecular markers and are very efficient in genetic variation studies in plants. In present study, both multidimensional scaling (MDS) plot and analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) based on both SCOT and SRAP molecular markers revealed genetic differentiation of the studied populations. This indicates that local populations may be genetically isolated and due to that gained specific genetic content. This is good news for genetic conservation of these medicinally important plants. We should continue for hunting new P. harmala wild populations in the country and study their genetic structure; in this way we can broaden P. harmala gene pools which can be utilized for future breeding studies.