Study of phylogenetic relationship of Turkish species of Klasea (Asteraceae) based on ISSR amplification

Klasea is a taxonomically complex genus in which there are many problems, mostly with Klasea kotschyi and K. hakkiarica. It is challenging to differentiate the genera based on morphological characters alone. Revision studies performed on the basis of molecular data obtained from studies conducted in recent years have made the phylogenetic relationships and systematic positions of the taxa more apparent and reliable. In this study, Klasea, Serratula, Jurinea and Centaurea species native to Turkey, were collected from different localities of Anatolia and DNA was isolated from the collected samples. The data were analyzed ordination analyses including UPGMA and PCA using NTSYSpc 2.1. The infrageneric and intergeneric phylogenetic relationships between Klasea and other related genera were also characterized. The Klasea species were grouped into three clusters. It was determined that taxa Klasea kotschyi and K. hakkiarica are separate but closely related. Moreover, it was observed that the Klasea lasiocephala a separate group within the genera. Clearly the genera Klasea, Serratula, Jurinea and Centaurea are phylogenetically differentiated on the dendogram.