Affiliation:
1. School of mechanical and electrical engineering, North China institute of science & technology, (Hebei Key Laboratory of Safety Monitoring of Mining Equipment), Langfang City, Hebei Province, China
2. Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Sindh, Jamshoro, Pakistan
Abstract
The genus Alcea, a member of Malvaceae family consists of approximately 75
species worldwide distributing mainly in South-West Asia. Among these, 33
species grow in Iran. Plants of the Alcea (or Althaea) are among important
medicinal plants in Iranian traditional medicine. They have long been used
in the treatment of health problems and diseases. Alcea aucheri (Boiss.)
Alef. species are distributed in different habitats of Iran. There is no
information on its population genetic structure, genetic diversity, and
morphological variability in Iran. Therefore, due to the importance of these
plant species, we performed a combination of morphological and molecular
data for this species. For this study, we used 118 randomly collected plants
from 10 geographical populations in 5 provinces. AMOVA test revealed
significant genetic difference among the studied populations and also
revealed that, 74% of total genetic variability was due to within population
diversity while, 26% was due to among population genetic differentiation.
Mantel test showed positive significant correlation between genetic distance
and geographical distance of the studied populations. Networking, STRUCTURE
analyses revealed some degree of gene flow among these populations.
Publisher
National Library of Serbia