<span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family: "Times New Roman";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family: Mangal;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language: HI" lang="EN-GB">Genetic differentiation and karyotype variation in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Hedysarum chaiyrakanicum</i>, an endemic species of Tuva Republic, Russia</span>

Abstract

<span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family: " times="" new="" roman";mso-fareast-font-family:"times="" roman";mso-bidi-font-family:="" mangal;mso-ansi-language:en-us;mso-fareast-language:en-us;mso-bidi-language:="" hi"="" lang="EN-US">Overgrazing and mining affect vegetation, particularly in mountains. At times, it goes to such an extent that the plant species become vulnerable and slowly extinct from its habitat. Such endemic species need to be protected. One such endemic species <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Hedysarum chaiyrakanicum </i>Kurbatsky, a vulnerable steppe vegetation of Tuva Republic, Russia was evaluated for its genetic diversity and taxonomic definition using molecular technique and chromosome number adjustment. The genetic differentiation among <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">H. chaiyrakanicum</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">H. setigerum</i> Turcz. and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">H. gmelinii</i> Ledeb. genotypes was determined using five inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers and then examined with Nei’s genetic distance coefficient (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">D</i>) and Shannon’s information index (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">H</i>). A total of 134 reproducible bands were detected with polymorphism percentage of 98%. The genetic diversity of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">H</i>.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"> chaiyrakanicum </i>was found to be 0.343 while the Shannon index <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">H</i>_sp was determined as 8.06. The chromosome number 2n = 16 is newly observed within the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">H</i>.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"> chaiyrakanicum</i>. The genetic relationship based on ISSR data supported the taxonomic distinction of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">H. chaiyrakanicum </i>from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">H. setigerum</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">H. gmelinii</i>. We recommend both <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">in situ</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">ex situ</i> conservation strategies, specially germplasm sampling, to save this endemic species.</span>