Date

2007

Author

Tozkar, C. Özge

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Turkish red pine (Pinus brutia) is wide-spread and an important forest tree species in Turkey, occurring mainly in southern, western and north-western Turkey and as small isolated populations in the Black Sea region. Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis) has naturally found only in Adana and Muğla provinces as small population in mixture with Turkish red pine. Although Turkish red pine and Aleppo pine are morphologically different, Turkish red pine has been regarded as subspecies of Aleppo pine by some taxonomists due to occurrence of natural hybridization between these two species. However, the phylogenic relationship between these species needs to be explored further. In the present study, by sampling overlapped populations of both species from Muğla and Adana provinces (4 populations of Turkish red pine and 3 populations of Aleppo pine), internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of ribosomal DNA were comparatively studied with sequence analysis. Although ITS1, 5.8s and ITS2 regions of ribosomal DNA were studied with ITS primers, only ITS2 region was successfully amplified with polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The complete data set for this region was analysed using MEGA3.1 and Arlequin softwares. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) demonstrated the highest genetic differentiation between Turkish red pine and Aleppo pine in Muğla with 100 percentage of variation. AMOVA analysis also indicated the possibility of low-level migration of genes between Turkish red pine and Aleppo pine populations in Adana with 50.65 percent of molecular variance. Haplotype comparison revealed that two major haplotypes were represented Based on the results of ITS2 region sequence analysis, Turkish populations of Aleppo pine and Turkish red pine populations could not be fully differentiated. In Muğla province Turkish red pine and Aleppo pine revealed more differentiation due to reproductive isolation. But in Adana province, two species shared more common genetic background due to possible hybridization. Since ITS2 region of nuclear ribosomal DNA revealed a few variable and parsimony informative sites for both species, thus, only ITS2 region of ribosomal DNA does not appear to be sufficient for fully resolving genetic relationships between Turkish red pine and Aleppo pine populations. Further studies including ITS1 and 5.8s regions of ribosomal DNA and populations included from major Aleppo pine distribution areas will be useful to understand the evolutionary relationship between Aleppo pine and Turkish red pine populations in Turkey.

Subject Keywords

Turkish red pine.

URI

http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/2/12608313/index.pdf
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/16768

Collections

Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Thesis