JOURNAL OF TAXONOMY AND BIOSISTEMATICS
Year:2013 | Volume:5 | Issue:14|Papers Count:8

The objective of this study was to determine the body shape variation among riffle minnows (A. eichwaldii) populations in the Caspian Sea basin using landmark-based geometric morphometrics. A total of 260 specimens were sampled from four streams of Gorganroud River, Valamroud River and two streams of Sefidroud River. The left side of each specimen was photographed using digital camera and eighteen landmark points were digitized on two dimensional images using TpsDig2. Landmark data after generalised procrustes analysis were analyzed using PCA, CVA and cluster analysis and the patterns of body shape differences among the studied populations were illustrated in deformation grids in relation to consensus configuration of all specimens. CVA analysis displayed significant differences among all populations except two populations sampled in Sefidroud River (P<0.05). Results also showed habitat-associated morphological divergence, phenotypic plasticity and evolutionary process of body shape change among various populations and also, a relationship between the geographical distance and the degree of morphological divergence among populations in response to environmental factors in their habitat. The results also could be taken as evidence to consider the populations as separate stocks.

The Iranian cichlid, Iranocichla hormuzensis, the only member of cichlidae family in Iran is widely distributed in Hormuz basin such as Mehran and Khorgo spring. The genetic diversity of Iranian cichlid was investigated using microsatellite techniques. In this study, 30 specimens of Iranian cichlid were collected from each location, Mehran River and Khorgo spring. DNA was extracted using ammonium acetate method and PCR amplification was performed using four pairs of microsatellite primers (OS7R, OS25, OS7 and OS64). PCR products were electrophoresed on 12% acrylamide gel and stained with silver nitrate. The results showed that all loci were polymorphic. Average number of the observed alleles in Khorgo spring and Mehran river were 5 and 5.75, respectively. The mean of the observed heterozygosity (Ho) in Khorgo spring and Mehran river were 0.78 and 0.60, respectively. The mean of expected heterozygosity (He) in Khorgo spring and Mehran river were 0.71 and 0.68, respectively. The results showed deviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium at five (OS7R, OS25 and OS64 loci in Khorgo spring and OS7R and OS64 loci in Mehran river) out of four studied loci. Low genetic segregation (3%) between population, high genetic diversity (97%) within population and high (10.76) noticeable gene flow between two populations could be concluded. The results of the present study provided valuable information and more insight from genetic structure of Iranian cichlid which may use in conservation as well as operation of this species.

In this research, the variation of spermatozoa traits among three male rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) was used to examine how the relative influences of sperm density and duration of sperm motility account for sperm competition success. Sperm competition trial was conducted to study the fertilization ability of sperms from three male rainbow trout. The proportions of larvae sired by different males were quantified using DNA microsatellite analysis. Larvae sired by male number 2 dominated the offsprings, this male sired 56% and 48% of the offspring checked in the paternity test using OMM1036 and Ocl8 loci respectively. Microsatellite DNA fingerprinting revealed that duration of sperm motility was conducive to sperm competition success. There was no significant relationship between fertilization success and either relative sperm count or duration of sperm motility, sperm count showed an inverse relationship with competition success (P<0.01, r=-0.915, n=30). Therefore, the results showed that under the experimental conditions for rainbow trout gametes, duration of sperm motility was a key spermatozoa character affecting sperm competition success. In the both control (paired mating treatments) and mixed milt fertilization groups, fertilization rates were high (>95%) when sufficient numbers (107) of spermatozoa per egg were used. Therefore, the fertilization success did not depend on whether sperm from one, or from a mixture of more males were used

GJB2 gene encodes connexin 26 which is an important skin-expressed gap junction protein. Connexin 26 is a transmembrane protein that is involved in the potassium ion recycling pathway in the inner ear. In this study, the neutrality tests were performed on genotyping data obtained from three polymorphic markers SNP1245, D13S141 and D13S175, located within the GJB2 region. The population genetics analysis packages, PyPop and Popgene32, were used for the analysis of the data obtained from Iranian population. Fnd value of three markers, SNP1245, D13S141 and D13S175, in Iranian population was estimated -0.5980, -1.0155 and -0.6457, respectively but without significant P values. The results indicated the influence of balancing selection on polymorphic markers at GJB2 gene. In the studied population, the F value of three markers lied inside L95 and U95 region of expected F value which showed no effect of genetic hitchhiking on markers located within GJB2 region. The results obtained from this study indicated that the polymorphism of these three markers in GJB2 gene was maintained by higher adaptive value of heterozygotes in Iranian population.

Trifolium resupinatum and T. fragiferum are two important crop species among the legumes. T. fragiferum is considered as one of the gene pools of T. resupinatum. In this study, the transferability of SSR markers from T. pratense and T. repens to genotypes of these two species was evaluated and new microsatellite loci for these species were obtained. Their genomic similarity was studied using the SSR markers and phenetic analysis. The results of this study indicated a high level of transferability and polymorphism for microsatellites from T. pratense and T. repens to genotype of T. resupinatum and T. fragiferum. Studies also showed that the genetic diversity was high among the populations and the studied populations were grouped in the low levels of similarity. Also, T. resupinatum and T. fragiferum were grouped in clusters with very low similarity that indicated genomic differences between them in tested SSR loci. This study showed that microsatellites can be useful tools to evaluate genetic variation in these species. The results suggested that as long as specific SSR primers for these two species were not designed, SSR primers of T. pratense and T. repens could be used with high reliability for genomic analysis of these species.

The genus Ferula L. belongs to Apiaceae family and tribe Scandiceae with Persian name Koma, Barijeh and Anghouzeh consisting of about 170-187 species worldwide. This genus is the largest member of Apiaceae in Asia and ranks third place in the world. In this study, for the first time, phylogenetical position of the genus of Iranian Ferula s. l. were investigated through cladistics analyses of morphological data based on maximum parsimony method by Win-PAUP* 4.0b10 software. In addition, evolutionary process of the 33 morphological characters of this genus was examined by MacClade 3.01 Macintosh OS program. Most of the investigated species were collected and determined from wild habitats. Comparison and evaluation of consensus tree of molecular and morphological data showed that 2 species of Iranian Leutea Genus must be transferred to Ferula genus. Although Dorema genus was placed in Ferula clade, verified transfer to Ferula needs more investigations. Also, according to this two comb nova. Ferula nematoloba (Rech. f.) Kanani and Ferula avicennia (Mozaff.) Kanani were added to Iranian Ferula.

In this project, the wild plants of Riseh-Paqal' e area which is located about 60 km in northeast of Shahrebabak and 300 Km in west of Kerman city were identified. Total area is about 40000 hectars and with average altitude about 2300 meters from the sea level. This mountainous and arid area belongs to Irano-Turanian region. More than 1000 specimens were collected and indentified from the area. According to this study, 205 plant species which belonged to 41 families and 151 genera were identified.37 families, 132 genera and 182 species belonged to dicotyledons and 4 families, 19 genera and 23 species belonged to monocotyledons. The biggest family was Asteraceae with 33 species and the biggest genus was Astragalus with 16 species. Meanwhile, there were 9 rare species, 33 endemic species and 13 monospeciefic genera in the studied area. Phytogeographically, 54% of the studied plant species belonged to Irano-Turanian region. Biological types of this area included: hemicryptophytes 45.5%, therophytes 34.5%, chamaephytes 9.5%, geophytes 5.5% and phanerophytes 5%.

Gomishan wetland is a natural ecosystem located in 35 km north west of Gorgan, in the west vicinity of Khajeh Nafas city and Gomishan. Twice sampling from 3 different geographic positions in dry and rainy seasons, led to the isolation of 224 isolates. For 57 isolates, halophilic and halotolerant behaviors and also optimum and growth range in different pH and temperatures were determined. Most of the moderately halophilic and halotolerant strains were capable of growing optimally in media with pH 8.5-9 and optimum growth temperatures ranging from<4 to 40oC. The isolates were examined for hydrolytic enzymes production. Most of the isolates showed lipase activites and a total of 15, 7 and 3 strains produced amylases, proteases and DNases, respectively. The enzymes could be useful in some industrial processes. 16S rDNA phylogenetic analysis were done for 55 strains. According to this analysis, strains were placed in 22 different genera: Achromobacter, Aeromicrobium, Altererythrobacter, Bacillus, Caenispirillum, Cyclobacterium, Erythrobacter, Halobacillus, Halomonas, Idiomarina, Jonesia, Marinobacter, Martelella, Nesiotobacter, Paenibacillus, Planococcus, Pseudomonas, Rheinheimera, Saccharospirillum, Stappia, Thalassospira and Vibrio.23% of these strains were haloalkalophilic bacteria and belonged to the Bacillus, Halobacillus, Halomonas, Idiomarina and Marinobacter. This was the first study on the culturable bacteria at Gomishan wetland, an area of considerable alkaline thalassohaline ecosystem.