Morphological and genetic diversity of Senecio vulgaris L. (Asteraceae) in Iran

Abstract

Senecio vulgaris L., an annual herb belonging to the Asteraceae, is widely distributed in different regions of the world. There is no information on the intraspecific variations of the morphological and molecular features of this species. In the present investigation, we studied the morphological and genetic diversity of 81 accessions of S. vulgaris collected from 10 geographical populations. Eleven inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) primers were used for the examination of genetic variations among the populations. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) and GST analyses revealed significant differences among the investigated populations. A significant correlation between genetic distance and geographical distance was revealed by the Mantel test. However, reticulation analysis indicated the occurrence of gene flow among most of the populations studied. Principal component analysis (PCA) plot showed that the number of capitula, length of the cauline leaf and plant height were the most variable morphological characters. Principal coordinates analysis (PCoA) plot revealed two groups of populations, according to molecular and morphological data. The results suggested the existence of possible intraspecific taxonomic ranks within this species.

Morphometric characteristics of helichrysum italicum (roth.) g. don from northwestern coast of Istria

“…These results once more confirm high genetic variability among individual plants of H. italicum in the wild population. High genetic variability in wild populations is common in cross-pollinating plants from family Asteraceae, such as Tanacetum vulgare, Tanacetum cinerariifolium, Senecio vulgaris, Chamomilla recutita, and Serratula lycopifolia (Cieslak, 2013;Ebadi, Eftekharian, 2021;Grdiša et al, 2014;Mežaka et al, Wolf et al, 2012).…”