Morphological and Molecular Assessment of Genetic Diversity of Seven Species of the Genus Artemisia L. (Asteraceae)

Species belonging to the genus Artemisia have high economic value and are used in folk and modern medicine. Analysis and identification of their genetic relationships can help in efficient conservation and further utilization of Artemisia genetic resources. This study was conducted to evaluate the genetic diversity among seven species of the genus Artemisia using their morphological characteristics and inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR)-based molecular markers. The morphology of leaf and achene was examined by light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Morphological and molecular data were analyzed using the multivariate statistical package program. There were obvious variations in the morphology of leaf and achene among the Artemisia species. The ISSR results showed a total of 173 amplified loci, consisting of 132 polymorphic loci and 41 unique loci. Polymorphism percentage ranged from 62.5 to 88.8% for nine primers. Mean polymorphism information content for ISSR markers was 0.88, which suggested the efficacy of the ISSR marker system in determining polymorphisms. Significant correlation (r = 0.56, P = 0.004) was observed between similarity coefficients of morphological parameters and ISSR data based on the Mantel test. A wide range of diversity was observed at both morphological and molecular levels among the species. Genetic analyses using ISSR allowed for the detection of relationships between various Artemisia species than was apparent by the analyses of morphological characteristics of these species. Moreover, a mixed pattern of grouping in cluster analysis was found, indicating the close affinities of species with each other and also that the section Artemisia is polyphyletic.