New Data on Taxonomic and Geographic Distribution of the trnLUAA Intron Deletion of Chloroplast DNA in Hedysarum L. (Fabaceae L.)

Abstract

A significant length polymorphism (309–735 bp) and nucleotide variability were detected by the study of the intergenic spacer trnL-trnF of chloroplast DNA in Hedysarum species belonging to sections Hedysarum and Multicaulia (family Fabaceae). Among nineteen Hedysarum species analyzed, the region trnL-trnF was not investigated before for thirteen species. The trnL intron deletion was first discovered for four Hedysarum species: H. austrosibiricum, H. cisbaiсalense, H. theinum, and H. consanguineum. The chloroplast cytotype without deletion of the trnL intron was reported for the first time for H. alpinum. This paper proposes a hypothesis about the polyphyletic origin of the genus and mechanisms of the formation of the phenomena for the first time established for genus Hedysarum of heteroplasmy and chloroplast cytotype variability found in H. consanguineum and H. alpinum on the basis of the data of trnL intron labeling.