Taxonomic classification and identification of fine leaved fescues collected from Eastern Anatolia of Turkey using flow cytometer

Abstract

Fescues are a very complex group of grasses of the Poaceae family. They have a wide adaptation as they are distributed all over the world. The close morphological resemblance of species (Festuca spp.) makes their identification and classification difficult. Therefore, it is not clear how many true species are included in the genus Festuca, but the estimated range is beween 400 and 500 species. It is well-known that nuclear DNA content among species varies considerably, and it accompanies the evolution of species and species groups. This is mainly because of chromosomal variations, but similar differences also exist among closely related species with the same chromosome number. Also, natural hybridization due to open pollination presents difficulties in distinguishing closely related taxa using morphological analysis. The objective of this study was to determine nuclear DNA content and ploidy level of over 130 populations of fescues collected from the natural flora of Eastern Anatolia by flow cytometer using PI as Fluorochrome. Based on the results of nuclear DNA content analysis, 2C nuclear DNA content of populations varied between 4.63 and 15.03 pg. These results indicate that fescue genetic materials collected from nature have a mixture of different species and ploidy levels. Therefore, prior characterization is a necessity before including them in breeding programmes. The results also indicated that flow cytometry provides easy, fast, relatively economic and reliable method to screen newly collected populations of plant genetic resources. © 2020 International Society for Horticultural Science. All rights reserved.