Molecular identification of Rosa x damascena growing in Taif region (Saudi Arabia)

Abstract

A fragment of 772 bp of the chloroplast maturase K gene was amplified and sequenced for <em>Rosa x damascena trigintipetala</em> variety growing in Taif region of Saudi Arabia. The data were aligned with their counterparts of other varieties already found in the Genbank database and were analyzed by maximum-parsimony, neighbor-joining and maximum-likelihood methods and a single rooted tree was executed. <em>R. x damascena trigintipetala</em> was paraphyletic where one sample [A] clustered with all varieties while the second [B] was basal. <em>R. x damascena</em> was sister to <em>R. x chinensis semperflorens</em> with the later being basal. <em>R. x damascena gori</em> was basal for all taxa studied. <em>R. moschata</em> was inside the clade of <em>R. x damascena</em>. Hybridization could be possible among <em>R. damascena, R. chinensis</em> and <em>R. moschata</em>. The genetic distance and tree topology indicated that [A] variety could be originated from <em>R. moshata</em> while [B] could be originated from gori or <em>R. chinensis semperflorens</em>. We, therefore, may consider that <em>R. x damascena gori</em> or <em>R. chinensis</em> could be the origin of all nowadays <em>R. x damascena</em> varieties.