JOURNAL OF TAXONOMY AND BIOSISTEMATICS
Year:2011 | Volume:3 | Issue:8|Papers Count:7

Potentilla botschantzeviana (Syn: P. butkovii var botschantzeviana (Adylov) Soják is reported as a new record species from N Iran for the first time. This species is identified by petioles with suppressed erecto - patent hairs; deeply divided leaflets with sparse crispate, erect indumentum especially on underside and with flower diameter of 1.2 cm. The morphological characters of Potentilla botschantzeviana (especially long style thickened at the base) are similar to the species of section Persicae (Th. Wolf) Juz., the largest section of the genus in Iran, including 12 endemic species. The photographs of plant at the flowering stage, different parts, indumentum ultra structure and distribution map are presented.

Zanjan province in NW Iran, with diverse climatic and topographic conditions includes a considerable part of Astragalus gene pool. From 2007 through 2009, a collection as complete as possible was made in this area by the authors. As a results of this study, we added 41 species to the already 75 known species for this province. Furthermore, 9 new species were described for the area from which one new species (Astragalus fausicola Podlech ex Bagheri, Maassoumi & F. Ghahrem. from sect. Incani DC.) is introduced.

Hordeum bulbosum L. (Poaceae) is considered to be sources of useful alleles which can be used in cereal improvement. Thirty two native Iranian H. bulbosum were collected from different localities and were studied by karyotype analysis. We assessed the karyotype asymmetry of the Iranian bulbous barley populations and analyzed the data to look for their geographic distribution correlations. All of the studied populations were tetraploid (2n=4x=28) and the analysed parameters of karyotype of H. bulbosum support the autopolyploidy origin of the species with nearly symmetric karyotype. The results showed the most asymmetric karyotypes within northeast (Golestan) and northwest (Gardane-e Heiran) populations and the most symmetric karyotyps in populations from the west of Iran. Therefore, it can be assumed that the oldest populations are in the slopes of Zagros Mountains and the youngest germplasms occur in the northeast of this country. It can be concluded that the species originated from the west of Iran and distributed towards east and northeast.

Matricaria L. belongs to the tribe Anthemideae and the subtribe Matricineae (Asteraceae) and comprises 7 species of which 2 species grow wild in Iran. This study was aimed to characterize the Iranian materials of Matricaria using profiles of flavonoid spots and determination of skeletons of major flavonoids in each species. Twelve bulked population samples from Matricaria aurea and M. recutita were examined. Presence -absence data from two dimensional maps (2DM) of their flavonoid spots were processed using Cluster and PCA analyses. Differences at species level in flavonoid skeleton properties were investigated and a taxonomic review of close taxa was provided.

Considering the high level of morphological diversity in Iranian pomegranate cultivars, comparison of genetic variation among 24 pomegranate cultivars was evaluated using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers. RAPD primers amplified 131 DNA fragments among which 29 were polymorphic (22.14%) and ISSR markers produced 173 amplification products, out of which 64 were polymorphic (37%). Mean PIC (polymorphic information content) was 0.128 for RAPD and 0.163 for ISSR. The results suggested that the ISSR markers produced much better reproducible bands and were more efficient in grouping cultivars. Pairwise similarity index values ranged from 0.353 to 1.0 (RAPD), 0.291 to 0.930 (ISSR) and mean similarity index values of 0.604 and 0.674 for RAPD and ISSR, respectively. The analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) for RAPD and ISSR data showed no significant differences among the geographical regions and juice acidity of the used cultivars (P>0.05) indicated that genetic and geographic distances were not correlated.

In this study, the genetic diversity and neutrality test for the MHC microsatellite loci, D6S2879 and D6S2806, located within the HLA-DRB1 gene region, were investigated. The genotyping data from 73 unrelated individuals were analyzed for Shannon index, the effective allele number of the markers and neutrality test by use of PyPop and Popgene32 programs. The Shannon index for D6S2879 and D6S2806 markers in the studied population was 1.0372 and 0.8601, respectively. The Fnd value computed for D6S2879 and D6S2806 markers were also estimated -0.8449 and 0.9904, respectively. The results obtained from Ewens-Watterson test indicated that D6S2879 and D6S2806 markers were under balancing and directional selection in the Iranian populations, respectively. The data suggested the presence of a selection force on HLA-DRB1 gene region in the Iranian populations.

In this study, leaf micromorphological structure of eight species of Festuca (F. akhanii, F. elwendiana, F. heterophylla, F. sulcata, F. valesiaca, F. arundinacea, F. gigantean and F. drymeia) and leaf anatomy structure of three species of Festuca (F. arundinacea, F. gigantean and F. drymeia) belonging to the four subgenera were examined with different repeations. About 40 quantitative and qualitative anatomical features of the leaves were statistically analyzed for several times from superficial view and on transversal section. These characters included observation of ribs and furrows in epidermis, the density of stomata and trichome, and the arrangement of vascular bundles. Sclerenchyma and bulliform cells were studied and their taxonomic value was verified in order to classify different species. The micromorphology data and anatomy characteristics of the species were used for multivariate analysis, which partly supported the taxonomic treatment of the genus Festuca in the flora of Iran. In order to group the species studied on the basis of similarity in their anatomical features as well as their micro morphological characteristics, different clustering methods of Between Groups, Single Linkage and WARD were observed. The first cluster composed of F. sulcata, F. valesiaca, F. elwendiana, F. heterophylla and F. akhanii. The species of F. arundinacea, F. gigantea and F. drymeia were positioned in clusters two.