TY - JOUR

T1 - Analysis of the taxonomic subdivision within the genus Helleborus by nuclear DNA content and genome-wide DNA markers

AU - Meiners, Julia

AU - Debener, Thomas

AU - Schweizer, Guenther

AU - Winkelmann, Traud

N1 - Funding Information: The authors thank Gartenbaubetrieb Josef Heuger, Glandorf, Germany and Will McLewin for supporting this work with plant and leaf material of certain Helleborus species and for useful discussion. We thank Dr. Joerg Fuchs for providing the internal reference standards for flow cytometric analysis. This work was supported by the German Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection administrated by the Federal Agency for Agriculture and Food [grant number 28-1-41.035-06 ].

PY - 2011/2/25

Y1 - 2011/2/25

N2 - Helleborus is a genus of herbaceous perennials belonging to the family Ranunculaceae. Within this genus six sections with a total of 22 species are found. The largest section Helleborastrum contains 16 species for which genetic relationships are still unclear. This study represents the first genetic analysis in the genus Helleborus, including the two newly described species H. liguricus and H. abruzzicus based on multilocus amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers with a genome-wide distribution in combination with nuclear DNA content data. Chromosome analyses of roots tips revealed a number of 2. n= 32 for the selected species, which was congruent with previous observations. The nuclear DNA content of Helleborus was estimated by flow cytometry applying propidium iodide staining and varied between 18 and 33. pg/2C, depending on the species. For AFLP analyses, 19 out of the 22 Helleborus species were studied using 10 AFLP primer combinations, resulting in a total of 1109 polymorphic bands among all species including the outgroup. The genetic distances between species varied between 0.034 and 0.330. Based on genetic distances a phenogram using the Neighbor-joining cluster method with bootstrap analysis was calculated. The results support the previously suggested division of the genus into six sections and thereby approve AFLP data to be applicable for phenetic analyses. Moreover, this genetic information is significant for the development of future Helleborus breeding strategies.

AB - Helleborus is a genus of herbaceous perennials belonging to the family Ranunculaceae. Within this genus six sections with a total of 22 species are found. The largest section Helleborastrum contains 16 species for which genetic relationships are still unclear. This study represents the first genetic analysis in the genus Helleborus, including the two newly described species H. liguricus and H. abruzzicus based on multilocus amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers with a genome-wide distribution in combination with nuclear DNA content data. Chromosome analyses of roots tips revealed a number of 2. n= 32 for the selected species, which was congruent with previous observations. The nuclear DNA content of Helleborus was estimated by flow cytometry applying propidium iodide staining and varied between 18 and 33. pg/2C, depending on the species. For AFLP analyses, 19 out of the 22 Helleborus species were studied using 10 AFLP primer combinations, resulting in a total of 1109 polymorphic bands among all species including the outgroup. The genetic distances between species varied between 0.034 and 0.330. Based on genetic distances a phenogram using the Neighbor-joining cluster method with bootstrap analysis was calculated. The results support the previously suggested division of the genus into six sections and thereby approve AFLP data to be applicable for phenetic analyses. Moreover, this genetic information is significant for the development of future Helleborus breeding strategies.

KW - AFLP

KW - Chromosome number

KW - Helleborus

KW - Nuclear DNA content

KW - Phylogeny

KW - Taxonomy

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79151479472&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.scienta.2010.12.011

DO - 10.1016/j.scienta.2010.12.011

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:79151479472

VL - 128

SP - 38

EP - 47

JO - Scientia horticulturae

JF - Scientia horticulturae

SN - 0304-4238

IS - 1

ER -