Taxonomic relationships in genus Fritillaria (Liliaceae): Evidence from RAPD-PCR and SDS-PAGE of seed proteins

Abstract

The genus Fritillaria L. is one of the examples from the several unsolved taxonomic problems. The classical identification of plant depends on morphological characteristics. Therefore, it is difficult to determine the botanical origin of some plants. The goals of this study were to examine the taxonomic status of these 42 taxa of Fritillaria in Turkey by means of RAPD-PCR and seed protein analysis in addition to taxonomic interpretation of species. SDS-PAGE and RAPD-PCR techniques were used to help taxonomic interpretation of Fritillaria species. Dendrogram based on genetic distances was calculated using the computer programmed PopGen. For the RAPD-PCR analysis, 40 random primers were tested in the amplification reactions with Fritillaria species. Only 9 of them gave consistently reproducible banding patterns. The analysis of seed proteins showed that all studied genotypes had a specific protein pattern except the species that were close to each other based on morphological data. In electrophoretic protein banding patterns a total of 22-30 protein bands were observed. The protein bands in the region between 116-66 kDa were almost similar in all the species tested. In addition to that, all the species of Fritillaria had two bands in common (just bigger than 25 kDa). F. acmopetala subsp. acmopetala and F. sororum are very close relatives according to morphological, RAPD and protein results. Therefore these two taxa can be considered as synonyms. F. zagrica, F. caucasica, F. baskilensis, F. armena and F. pinardii are grouped together. All these separate species treated as synonyms based on morphological and molecular data. © 2008 Akadémiai Kiadó.