Genetic Diversity of Salvia Officinalis L. (Lamiaceae) and its Related Species using TU-DAMD Analysis

Salvia tomentosa Mill., Salvia fruticosa Mill., and Salvia officinalis L. are Mediterranean species with different pharmaceutical and medicinal applications. However, genetic relationships among these species are still unclear.

The study aimed to investigate the genetic polymorphism among S. officinalis L. (SO) and its related species S. tomentosa Mill. (ST) and S. fruticosa Mill. (SF) collected from different geographical regions in Syria.

Touch-up directed amplification of minisatellite DNA (TU-DAMD) assay has been employed to assess genetic relationships among the studied Salvia species based on the estimated percent disagreement values (PDV).

Seventeen DAMD primers highlighted a mean of 90.419, 0.254, and 2.398% for polymorphism level (P%), polymorphic information content (PIC), and marker index (MI) values, respectively, across the three studied Salvia species. Unweighted Pair Group Mean Arithmetic average (UPGMA) analysis revealed that the studied Salvia samples were clustered into three main clusters; each species was split into one cluster. Overall, moderate P% of 72.662 and 70.374% was recorded for SO and ST species, respectively. Whereas, low P% of 51.429% was recorded for SF species.

TU-DAMD marker is a potential tool for studying genetic relationships among the three studied Salvia species.