9 / 20
conferenceseries
.com
Page 82
Notes:
Volume 7, Issue 6 (Suppl)
J Biotechnol Biomater, an open access journal
ISSN: 2155-952X
World Biotechnology 2017
December 04-05, 2017
2
nd
World Biotechnology Congress
December 04-05, 2017 | Sao Paulo, Brazil
Phylogenetic relationships of the genus
Curcuma
L. based on cytogenetical and molecular inferences
Rama Rao
and
Judith Mary Lamo
North-Eastern Hill University, India
T
he genus
Curcuma
L. of the family
Zingiberaceae
, is pantropical in distribution and comprises of three subgenera viz.
C
. subg.
Curcuma, C
. subg.
Hitcheniopsis
and
C
subg. Ecomatae. Of the three subgenera, the subgenus
Curcuma
(Baker) K. Schum.,
contains highly complex polyploid taxa with overlapping morphological characters which contributed to taxonomic perplexity
in the genus
Curcuma
. A combination of classical and molecular cytogenetics as well as molecular approaches, are essential for
detailed scrutiny particularly polyploid complexes which may offer a reasonable taxonomic concept. To resolve some of these issues,
fifteen species belonging to the
Curcuma
subg.
Curcuma
were taken up for cytogenetical (viz. chromosome count, male meiosis
and heterochromatin banding pattern) and sequence targeted (viz. nrITS and cpDNA) studies. Mitotic study in root-tip cells, could
resolved the species into three groups with 2n=42 (
C amada, C aromatica, C. comosa, C haritha, C mangga
and
C montana
), 2n=63 (
C
aeruginosa, C caesia, C latifolia, C longa, C leucorrhiza, C sylvatica, C zanthorrhiza
and
C zedoaria
) and 2n=105 (
C raktakanta
) with
male meiotic analysis showing a varying degree of chromosome association(s) suggesting the genus might have been affected by inter-
specific crosses and thus confirming their allopolyploid nature. For phylogenetic investigation, a total of 27
Curcuma
species which
included 15 species collected exclusively from India and the remaining 12 world species retrieved from GenBank, were taken up for
detailed analysis with
Alpinia galangal and Globba substrigosa
as outgroups. The studies could successfully resolve the species with
respect to their infrageneric groups and could deduce some of the taxonomic discrepancy related to the genus
Curcuma. C. comosa, C.
montana
and
C. latifolia
with similar morphological and floral traits demonstrated a close phylogenetic relationship.
C. sylvatica
was
considered a variant derived from
C. amada
due to the mango-like aroma of the rhizome, etc. However, in light of our cytogenetical
data on chromosome count and male meiosis we rule out the possibility of
C. sylvatica
(2n=63) being a variant of
C. amada
(2n=42).
In depth, scrutiny of the species within the
Curcuma
clade based on morphology, cytology and molecular parameters could resolve
the identity of some closely resembling
Curcuma
species when there is confusion with respect to their identity. Moreover, a close
relationship between species within the
Curcuma
clade suggested that hybridization and subsequent chromosome doubling has
played an important role in species diversification of
Curcuma
Biography
Rama Rao has about 30 years of teaching and research experience in the field of Plant Genetics and Molecular Biology. He has mainly focus on characterization of genetic
diversity of plant resources of Indian Thar Desert regions, later the North-east regions of India with focus on Meghalaya. Over these years, he has identified novel genotypes
in
Vigna, Curcuma, Citrus
and bananas. He has published more than 105 research publications in journals of international repute.
srrao22@yahoo.comRama Rao et al., J Biotechnol Biomater 2017, 7:6 (Suppl)
DOI: 10.4172/2155-952X-C1-086