Genetic diversity in Artemisia monosperma and Artemisia judaica populations in Egypt based on morphological, karyological and molecular variations

Abstract

The diversity of ten populations representing Artemisia monosperma and A. judaica has been analyzed, based on assessment of morphological, karyological and molecular variations. The analysis of morphological variation and molecular polymorphism as revealed by RAPD, using the software NTSYSpc-2.01, confirmed the differentiation of A. monosperma and A. judaica as two distinct species and showed wider variations among A. judaica populations compared to the A. monosperma populations. Karyotype analysis revealed that all A. monosperma populations are tetraploid with 2n=36 and a basic number of x=9, while all samples of A. judaica are diploid with 2n=16 and x=8. One B chromosomes was detected in three populations of A. monosperma. Like most other species of Artemisia both species have symmetric karyotype but the chromosomes of A. monosperma are generally shorter than those of A. judaica. The populations of A. judaica growing in the mountains of Sinai were clearly distinguished from other populations growing at lower elevations in other parts of the Egypt based on morphological differences. However, these two populations differ considerably in chromosome length being 4.85±0.42 μm for the population growing in wadi beds and 3.81±0.28 μm for population growing on the terraces. The latter population is clearly distinguished by RAPD profilin from the other four populations supporting the recognition of some populations of A. judaica in South Sinai as a separate variety.

Genetic structure and molecular analysis of the species of the genus Artemisia L. (Asteraceae) distributed in Azerbaijan

“…While Artemisia is a diverse genus of plants with 500 species (Aalı et al, 2014), Artemisia species are used medicinally throughout the world. Despite the harmful effects of some of its species (invading nurseries and farmlands; toxic and allergenic for humans), the Artemisia genus has a wide area of usage in different fields, including pharmaceutics, landscape architecture, and agriculture (Badr, et al, 2011;Barney, et al, 2003;Hayat, et al, 2010).…”

Anti-Cryptosporidium parvum activity of Artemisia judaica L. and its fractions: in vitro and in vivo assays

“…Asteraceae (Compositae) is considered one of the most prominent and widely distributed plant families ( Panda and Luyten, 2018 ). In Egypt, this plant family comprises 14 genera, including the genus Artemisia ( Mokhtar et al, 2019 ) which is represented by five species; A. monosperma Delile , A. vulgaris, A. verlotiorum, A. scoparia Waldst and A. judaica L. ( Badr et al, 2012 ). Plants of this genus were reported to possess antioxidant, antimicrobial, and cytotoxic activities ( Bora and Sharma, 2011 ; Pandey and Singh, 2017 ).…”