Inter-populations genetic and morphological diversity in three Silene (Caryophyllaceae) species

Abstract

The inter-populations morphological and genetic variations were studied in three species of Silene (Silene indeprensa, Silene gynodioica and Silene crispans) of the section Auriculatae, which grow and form several populations in different regions of Iran. Morphological analysis of variance (ANOVA) and analysis of molecular (AMOVA) analyses showed the species distinctness. Unweighted paired group with arithmetic average (UPGMA) clustering of morphological characters and neighbor-joining (NJ) tree of molecular features almost separated the species from each other. In S. gynodioica, Soltaneiyes and Gheydar populations differed from the other populations in both morphological and molecular features, and in case of S. indeprensa, Ghorkhood and Hezarmasjed populations differed significantly from the other populations in both morphological and molecular features. Therefore, these populations are considered as a new subspecies in these two species. Some of the populations showed the presence of specific inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) band/locus, indicting genetic divergence of the populations possibly either due to local adaptations or genetic drift. Mantel test performed did not show significant correlation between morphological/molecular distance and geographical distance of the populations studied.

Keywords: Diversity, ISSR, morphometry, Silene