Molecular Phylogenetic Analyses of Perennial Ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) Populations Selected from the Flora of Türkiye

Abstract

Perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) is an important forage species widely used in grassland-meadow ecosystems and turfgrass management due to its high forage yield, feed quality, and strong adaptation ability. The effectiveness of breeding programs in this species depends on the accurate determination of genetic differences and phylogenetic relationships among the genetic materials to be used. This study was conducted to reveal, at the molecular level, the phylogenetic relationships among potential L. perenne samples collected from the natural distribution areas of Türkiye's Central Anatolia and Mediterranean regions. Phylogenetic analyses indicate that annual species (L. rigidum and L. temulentum) have made a significant contribution to the evolution of perennial ryegrasses. One of the most important findings of this study is that it confirms the origin of existing perennial ryegrass populations from annual ryegrasses, based on the sampled Anatolian ryegrasses, and provides important insights regarding local populations. In the phylogenetic tree constructed using chloroplast sequences, it is clearly observed from the haplotypes that, except for the Eskil populations, the sampled perennial ryegrasses possess an evolutionary history different from the L. perenne taxon and exhibit distinct maternal inheritance patterns. The fact that the sampled from Eskil (LP 16, 17, 18) share a common haplotype with both L. multiflorum and L. perenne in terms of maternal inheritance suggests a close relationship between biennial and perennial species at the maternal lineage level. Network analyses based on ITS sequences revealed a wide ribotype diversity, while those based on rpl32 pointed to low haplotype variation and diversity. The presence of different ribotypes, in particular, indicates that perennial ryegrasses have arisen through a more complex natural evolutionary process than previously recognized and perhaps natural hybridisation could have been effective in occuring different lineages by natural crosses and gene flow among Lolium and its relatives in Poaceae. These results support the idea that interspecific gene flow plays an important role in the evolutionary history of Lolium species and that more taxa or hybrid populations with perennial growth habits are present within Türkiye's natural flora. Furthermore, the study highlights the importance of molecular analyses in determining genetic diversity and guiding parental selection in perennial ryegrass breeding programs

Keywords

• Lolium perenne
• ITS
• rDNA
• rpl32
• cpDNA
• network analysis

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