Diterpenoids from Euphorbia aleppica Linn.

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Characterization of Quercus species distributed in Jordan using morphological and molecular markers

Genetic diversity among 25 natural populations of three different species of Quercus in Jordan at morphological and molecular levels using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) primers was assessed. Significant morphological and molecular variations among and within 25 Quercus populations were estimated. Standardized canonical discrimination functions for the investigated morphological traits showed that the first function explains 72.44% of the total variability between populations and was strongly influenced by leaf and scale length. Twenty-seven polymorphic markers and 5917 scored bands were generated using six RAPD primers. Based on morphological and RAPD data, the populations were grouped together in the same cluster according to species regardless of local of collections. Result of cluster analysis based on RAPD showed significant correlation with morphological characters based on Mantel’s test (r = 0.145**). This study has emphasized the ability of the morphological and molecular markers in determining the genetic diversity among and within the populations of Quercus and that the resulted high genetic variability could be utilized in implications of improving conservation, restoration and reforestation strategies of Quercus in Jordan.Keywords: Quercus spp., genetic diversity, random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers, conservation, restorationAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(12), pp. 1326-133

Integrating morphological characters, molecular markers, and distribution patterns to assess the identity of Blepharis species from Jordan

Background: Blepharis constitutes an important part of the vegetation of the Jordanian arid and semi-arid regions, yet whether one or more species of this genus occurs in the Jordanian area is uncertain. We addressed this question by assessing morphological characters and testing Inter-Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR) markers from three populations of Blepharis: two northern (lower slopes of Kufranjah valley and the Dead Sea region) and one southern (Wadi al Yutm). Results: Shoots from randomly chosen Blepharis plants were harvested from each of the three populations for morphological and molecular analyses. In the northern populations, spikes were lax and bract width was significantly shorter than length of the longest lateral spine compared to the southern population. A multivariate linear discriminant analysis distinguished the northern populations from the southern one by internode length, bract width, longest lateral spine length, and bract width to spine length ratio. The ISSR analysis revealed that 44 markers across eight primers were polymorphic with major allele frequency of 83.6% and an average of 5.5 polymorphic markers per primer. The genetic resemblance among individuals ranged from 0.27 to 0.96. The three Blepharis populations were accordingly clustered into two distinct groups, similar to the analysis of morphological differences and corresponding with the “northern” and “southern” population designations. Conclusions: Our results strongly indicate the occurrence of two discrete Blepharis species in Jordan and reject the hypothesis that the genus is represented by only one species. We propose that the Blepharis species in Jordan are B. attenutata Napper (represented by the northern populations) and B. ciliaris (L.) B. L. Burtt (represented by the southern population). These findings are important for informing and revising floristic work within the region and an updated key has been included in our findings.Forestry, Faculty ofNon UBCForest and Conservation Sciences, Department ofReviewedFacult

Data from: Integrating morphological characters, molecular markers, and distribution patterns to assess the identity of Blepharis species from Jordan

Background: Blepharis constitutes an important vegetative part of the Jordanian arid and semi-arid regions, yet whether one or more species occurs in this area is debatable. We addressed this question by assessing morphological characters and employing Inter-Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR) markers on three populations of Blepharis: two Northern (lower slopes of Kufranjah valley and the Dead Sea region) and one Southern (Wadi al Yutm). Results: Shoots from 19 randomly chosen Blepharis plants per population were harvested for morphological and molecular analyses. Spikes were lax and bract width was considerably shorter than length of the longest lateral spine in the Northern populations compared to the Southern population (P < 0.001). A multivariate linear discriminant analysis (LDA) distinguished the Northern populations from the Southern one largely by internode length, bract width, longest lateral spine length, and bract width to spine length ratio (P < 0.001). The ISSR analysis revealed that 44 markers across eight primers were polymorphic with major allele frequency of 83.6% and an average of 5.5 polymorphic markers per primer. The genetic resemblance among individuals ranged from 0.27 to 0.96. The three Blepharis populations were accordingly clustered into two distinct groups, similar to the analysis of morphological differences. Conclusions: Our results strongly indicate the occurrence of two discrete Blepharis species in Jordan and the hypothesis that the genus is represented by only one species is not supported. The species in Jordan are B. attenutata Napper (represented by the Northern populations) and B. ciliaris [L.] B. L. Burtt (represented by the Southern population). These findings are important for informing floristic work within the region and an updated key has been included in our findings

MuhaidatEtAl_ISSRData

ISSR genotype dat

Morphological Data

Morphological data (see README.md for variable description). All data & analysis files available as an .Rproj project file from GitHub: https://github.com/ColauttiLab/BlepharisMorphDat

LDA.R

R code for Linear Discriminant Analysi

LDAvsISSR

R code for comparing LDA with NMDS from ISSR genotype dat