دراسة جزيئية وكيميائية لمقارنة بعض أنواع جنس Galium L. من العائلة الفوية Rubiaceae في العراق

A comparative molecular and chemical study for some species of the genus Galium L. from the Rubiaceae family in Iraq

The current study is a comparative molecular and chemical study of 5 species of the genus Galium L. from the family Rubiaceae that grow wild in Iraq, namely G. spurium L., G. setaceum L., dandy G. tricornatum, and G. ceratopodum Boiss. and G. aparine using DNA Markers based on Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), which are Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPDs) markers .
The study was carried out in Al-Amin Laboratory of the Holy Shrine of the Holy Prophet, Najaf Governorate – Iraq, from February 2003 until June 2003. The results of the current study using RAPD markers showed the variation between the studied genotypes through the presence of unique monomorphic, polymorphic, and heterogeneous bundles. Some primers gave a unique fingerprint for some of the genotypes of the plant Galium L.
8 of the random primers affiliated with RAPD , ISRR were chosen, but 3 of the primers did not achieve any results, which are BH10, BH11, and BH14, while the 5 primers shared different results
Five Random primers affiliated with RAPD were chosen that showed different replication results among the studied plant species. The number of different bundles reached 65 out of 67 main bundles, and the highest number of duplicated bundles was obtained, which was 28 out of 120 bundles obtained across all The genomes of plant species were obtained by primer OPC14 and the lowest number of duplicated bands, 20, was obtained by primer OPC8. The highest number of main bands, 17, was obtained by primer OPC14, and the lowest number of main bands, 8, was obtained by primer OPC8.
The cluster analysis (genetic relationship tree) revealed that the studied plant species were divided into two main genetic groups. The first group included two plant species, namely G. spurium and G. setaceum, while the second group included the remaining three other species, which were G. ceratopodum, G. tricornatum and G. aparine.
The general analysis of the results showed that RAPD genetic markers is a powerful tool for distinguishing between Galium L. species and revealing genetic relationships between them.
The current study also dealt with the chemical content of the ethanolic extract of Galium leaves, and the compounds were identified using Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) technology. It was found that there were a number of chemical compounds resulting from secondary metabolism, which have an effective role in medical treatments and as a means of defense for the plant. These compounds had an effective role in distinguish between taxonomically studied species.