Molecular phylogenetic analysis of wild Tulipa species (Liliaceae)
present in Kosovo, based on plastid and nuclear DNA sequences
Abstract
Species of the genus Tulipa L. (Liliaceae) are characterized with a high
variability of vegetative and floral characters, which makes the
taxonomy of this genus difficult. In Kosovo the genus Tulipa is
represented by eight taxa, which sometimes have been synonymized,
erroneously identified, or misclassified. To investigate the
phylogenetic relationships of Tulipa species originated from Kosovo, ITS
and trnL-trnF DNA sequences were used. In total 55 sequences (29 ITS and
26 trnL-trnF), obtained from 14 taxa were analysed. Forty one sequences
were newly generated from eight taxa collected from wild population in
Kosovo and 14 sequences were obtained from GenBank. Neighbor-Joining,
Maximum Parsimony and Maximum Likelihood trees from independent (ITS and
trnL-trnF) and combined (ITS + trnL-trnF) datasets were conducted in
PAUP. Based on sequence analyses, our sequences of Tulipa species
grouped into two main clades, belonging to the subgenera Eriostemones
and Tulipa, respectively. There is not sufficient genetic evidence to
distinguish species of the T. scardica complex (T. scardica, T. serbica,
T. albanica, T. kosovarica and T. luanica) as independent taxa. Despite
the lower resolution of the trnL-trnF than the ITS dataset, both loci do
not support the separation of taxa of the T. scardica complex as
independent species.