Fast assessment of phylogenetic diversity among five Hyacinthus orientalis cultivars using molecular markers

Abstract

Hyacinthus is one of the most popular bulbous flowers in the world, the hyacinth is a favorite spring fragrant flower for outdoor landscapes and as a cut flower. Although there are numerous horticultural variants and cultivars of hyacinth, it only has one origin. Understanding the genetic relationships between Hyacinthus cultivars is necessary to enhance agricultural productivity and gain economic benefits. This research aimed to study the relationships between five different Hyacinthus cultivars using Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA markers (RAPD). Six universal primers were used to screen the five cultivars for polymorphisms. For the RAPD–PCR investigation, the number of amplified fragments varied with the primer, a total of 49 amplified bands of which 16 were polymorphic. With the unweighted pair-group approach of arithmetic averages (UPGMA), cluster analyses and phylogenetic tree were carried out, the cultivars clustered according to color, with the colorful cultivars forming the first cluster and the white cultivar forming the second. The genetic distance between the five cultivars ranged from 0.142 to 0.834.