Species discrimination of mountain garlic based on the nrDNA ITS region sequence

Abstract

Mountain garlic is an edible perennial herb widely distributed in Asian, European, and Siberian regions, referring to a class of Allium species. In South Korea, mountain garlic mainly consists of two Allium species, Allium ochotense Prokh. and A. microdictyon Prokh. Due to having spicy garlic odor and nutrition contents, mountain garlic is used as a vegetable and traditional medicine in South Korea, Japan, and China. However, the genetic relationship between A. ochotense and A. microdictyon belonging to the subgenus Anguinum is still unclear. To understand the genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationships of mountain garlic populations in South Korea, we collected 25 mountain garlic materials from 8 geographical areas and analyzed their genetic diversity and relationships based on sequence variations of the nuclear ribosomal DNA (nrDNA) internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region. The DNA alignment result showed that A. ochotense and A. microdictyon were clearly divided into two groups, sharing 11 respective, particular nucleotide variable sites. It suggested that the nrDNA ITS region could be used to discriminate among Allium intraspecies. This species identification method would be utilized to distinguish unclear mountain garlic materials. This work not only provides more sequence resources of mountain garlic, but also validates the efficiency of the molecular discrimination method based on the nrDNA ITS region sequence.