Evaluation of genetic variability of several populations of medicinal plant Leonurus cardiaca in Iran using fragment length polymorphism (AFLP)

Leonurus cardiaca is a medicinal plant of the family Lamiaceae, due to the effects of blood dilutioning, the species is used for centuries. The species has a high diversity and widely distributed in Iran, so that from 4 sub species in the world, 3 sub-species are grown in Iran. In this study AFLP markers were used to investigate genetic diversity among 47 samples of 6 motherwort populations and the kinship ties between them. The results showed that 6 selected AFLP primer combinations (MseI /EcoRI) amplified 608 scorable DNA bands, of which 355 were polymorphic (polymorphic 58%). The average genetic similarity of samples was estimated based on the Nei coefficient, 0.26 (0.21-0.30). Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) showed that the genetic variation was mainly within populations (57%), but variance among the populations was only 43%. A UPGMA dendrogram based on genetic distance also revealed five major branches in accordance to geographical regions. Maximum and minimum values of genetic similarity of the populations were recorded between “Taleghan 6” and “Taleghan 7” (0.7) and “Dargaz 1” and “Taleghan 7” (0.06) respectively. Data showed a completely different banding pattern of subspecies L. Cardiaca subsp Turkestanicus. of Dargaz region. Coefficient of genetic differentiation among the populations (Gst) and gene flow (Nm), average number of emigration exchanged per generation estimated among the populations, were estimated 0.37 and 0.85, respectively.