Study on genetic diversity between Malva l. (Malvaceae): A high value medicinal plant using SCoT molecular markers

Abstract

The Malva L. genus, popularly known as mallow, grows spontaneously in almost all of Europe and the Mediterranean region. The Malva genus has 25-40 species and it can be considered as an annual and/or biannual herb. This genus contains species that reveal therapeutic properties and are mostly important in medicine and the functional food industry. 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 97 randomly collected plants from seven species in 7 provinces. According to the SCoT markers analysis, Malva sylvestris and Malva aegyptia had the lowest similarity and the species of Malva neglecta and Malva vericillata had the highest similarity. The aims of present study are: 1) can SCoT markers identify Malva species, 2) what is the genetic structure of these taxa in Iran, and 3) to investigate the species inter-relationship? The present study revealed that combination of morphological and SCoT data can identify the species.