Analysis of Phylogenetic Relationships among Medicago Species by Proteins Banding Patterns and RFLP Markers

Analysis of Phylogenetic Relationships among Medicago Species by Proteins Banding Patterns and RFLP Markers

The relationship of nine Medicago species belonging to four subgenera were analyzed by using SDS-PAGE and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RELP) methodologies. Sixty-eight bands of alcohol and salt soluble proteins and 85-133 RFLP markers were used to estimate the genetic distance among the species. These species were clustered together at around 0.1 to 0.4 level of distance for both kind of markers, indicating that Medicago species have a large genetic similarity. A combined cluster diagram, at a dissimilarity level of 0.3, differentiated nine species in four groups: group 1, M. littoralis , M. truncatulam, M.scutellata and M. rigidula; group 2, M. sativa ; group 3, M. lupulina ; group 4, M. orbicularis, M. radiata and M. minima. All of them, but except for M. minima. corrensponded to the existing four subgenera of the genus Medicago classified by Lesins and Lesins(1979).The most similar species were M. littoralis and M. trucatula and the most dissimilar one was M. lupulina. In separate cluster diagrams based on RFLP and protein markers, some differences were observed. In the case of RFLP or DNA markers, M. sativa (alfalfa) was distantly clustered with other Medicago species. But in the case of protein markers, M. sativa was closely clustered with M. scutellata, M. littorulis and M. truncatula.