A molecular phylogeny of selected species of Genus Prunus L. (Rosaceae) from Pakistan using the TRN-L & TRN-F spacer DNA

Abstract

The genus Prunus L. is an important plant for fruit production and it includes plums, apricots, cherries, almonds and peaches that are sources of food for the local people. The family Rosaceae is not yet published in Flora of Pakistan and there is a lot of taxonomic work that is yet to be done for the proper classification and placement of different genera under different sub-families. Prunus is found in almost all the four provinces of Pakistan including Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (former NWFP), Sindh and Baluchistan which includes Azad Kashmir region. In the present study, the genus Prunus was studied in detail to find out the phylogenetic relationship among the 12 species of Prunus selected from different regions of Pakistan and GenBank using the maximum parsimony analysis of sequence polymorphism in chloroplast TRN-L and TRN-F spacer DNA. The results for the TRN-L and TRN-F primers confirm the work done by early phylogenetists including Potter and Bortiri with additions to new species from Pakistan including Prunus dulcis (Mill.) D.A. Webb. (Syn. Prunus amygdalus) and Prunus cornuta (Wall. ex. Royle) Steudel. which are indigenous to Pakistan.

Key Words: Prunus, chloroplast, TRN-L, TRN-F, Pakistan.