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GENETIC RELATEDNESS AMONG SOLANUM L. SPECIES ASSAYED BY

SEED MORPHOLOGY AND ISOZYME MARKERS

SHAWKAT M. AHMED1,2* AND MOHAMED A. FADL1,3

1Biology Department, Faculty of Science, Taif University, Taif, KSA

2Biology Department, Faculty of Education, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt

3Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Beni-Suef University, Beni-Suef, Egypt

*Corresponding author: shamahmoh@gmail.com, postal code : 5700,

phone +966535923238, fax +966-2-7256620, Taif, KSA

Abstract

In spite of their economic and medicinal value, no adequate attention has been paid to the diversity, characterization and taxonomical identification of Solanum L. species in Saudi Arabia. In this study, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) of seed coat morphology and isozyme electrophoresis were employed for studying the genetic variability and relationships among seven Solanum L. species namely; S. incanum L., S. nigrum L., S. villosum L., S. schemprianum Hochst, S. galabratum Dunal, S. lycopersicum L. and S. melongena L. collected from Taif highlands. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) investigation of seed coat sculpturing showed three basic patterns namely; rugulate, reticulate and levigate. The analyses on six enzymes were coded by 19 loci. The number of alleles ranged from one to three with a mean of 1.58 alleles per locus. The proportion of polymorphic loci for Solanum L.species ranged from 0.87 for S. nigrum L.and S. villosum L.to 0.80 for S. lycopersicum L. The mean observed heterozygosity varied from 0.00 to 1.00, while mean expected heterozygosity ranged between 0.00 and 0.5. The UPGMA phenogram confirmed the extensive genetic diversity existed in the studied Solanum L. species and showed the close relationship between S. incanum L. and S. melongena L.  

Key words: Solanum, SEM, Isozyme, Heterozygosity, Genetic variability.