USE OF PCR-RFLP ANALYSIS TO ASSESS GENETIC DIVERSITY OF Salvia officinalis L. BETWEEN GENOTYPES OF NATURAL AND CULTIVATED POPULATIONS IN ALBANIA

摘要

Dalmatian sage (Salvia officinalis L.), which grows naturally in Albania, is also one of the most important medicinal plants cultivated in many areas of the country. Sage is valued because of its antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, carminative, cholagogue and diaphoretic properties. In order to avoid one of the main problems in cultivation, the lack of standardisation and quality control profiles, molecular markers can be used to assess genetic relationships. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of particular cpDNA regions followed by subsequent Restriction fragment length polymorphism analyses (PCR-RFLP) has been used a lot to identify a variety of plant species, genetic diversity and phylogenetic studies. The purpose of this study was to evaluate genetic relationships between 28 Salvia officinalis genotypes of 14 cultivated and 14 natural populations in Albania. They were analysed with PCR-RFLP on the trnL-F inter-genic region of the cpDNA and the amplicons were respectively digested with two restriction enzymes (EcoRI and HindIII). The PcoA software was used to perform cluster analysis and determine genetic distances among the verified genotypes. Results show a separation between natural and cultivated genotypes of sage. Most of the genetic diversity is noticed within genotypes of natural populations, where genotypes of Skrapar, Shkoder and Himara are distinctive from the rest, while the most distinguished genotypes from the cultivated populations are Koplik, Velipoja, Shkoder, and Skrapar.