Phylogenetic Analysis of Some Species of the Genus Biarum Based on the Chloroplast trnLC Intron Region

Abstract

This study was conducted to reveal the phylogenetic relationships of 12 Biarum species collected from different regions of Turkey based on the chloroplast DNA trnLC intron region. The genus Biarum, belonging to the family Araceae, holds an important place in the flora of Turkey and is represented by 12 taxa in our country. Some of these species are endemic to Turkey, and due to their highly similar morphological structures, molecular-level analyses were needed. In this study, DNA was isolated from the leaves of plant specimens, and the trnLC gene region was amplified by PCR and subsequently sequenced. The sequence data obtained were aligned using the MEGA X software, and a Neighbor-Joining phylogenetic tree was constructed using the Kimura-2 parameter model. According to the findings, it was determined that the genus Biarum generally forms a monophyletic group, and certain species pairs exhibited very close relationships with high bootstrap values (for example, B. x cinarense and B. carduchorum). Similarly, B. bovei and B. crispulum also demonstrated a close evolutionary relationship, while B. eximium, B. syriacum, and B. tenuifolium subsp. zelebori were positioned on the more basal branches of the phylogenetic tree, indicating earlier diverging lineages. Moreover, the molecular findings were largely consistent with the morphological similarities and geographical proximities of the species. It was concluded that the trnLC region is meaningful for the systematics of Biarum species, but it should be supported with additional chloroplast or nuclear markers, especially to distinguish closely related species.

Keywords

• Flora
• Turkey
• Molecular
• Biarum

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