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Differences in population genetic structure of two ethnomedicinal herbs of the genus Phyllanthus from India: a consequence of anthropogenic intervention?

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Abstract

Phyllanthus amarus and Phyllanthus fraternus are important ethnomedicinal herbs used as traditional medicines in many parts of the world. The increasing popularity of these green medicines and almost no studies on structuring of genetic diversity in these herbs, led to this investigation. Keeping this in view, our main objective was to analyze the structuring of chloroplast DNA diversity in wild populations of the two herbs from Northern India, using chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) markers. PCR–RFLP of cpDNA regions was carried out to detect intraspecific polymorphisms. The study revealed differences in cpDNA diversity in the two ethnomedicinal herbs. Lower cpDNA diversity, lesser number of haplotypes and absence of correlation between phylogeny and geographical distribution of haplotypes were observed in P. amarus. Absence of phylogeographic structure in P. amarus may be attributed partly to higher anthropogenic intervention, owing to its commercialization for export and raw drug trade. The investigation identified populations with high haplotype diversity and unique haplotypes in both the herbs, which will be useful while formulating future conservation strategies. As there are comparatively less number of studies on structure of cpDNA diversity in annuals, the present analyses also add to the available data on population genetic structure in annual plants.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Department of Science and Technology and Department of Biotechnology, Government of India. We gratefully acknowledge the help provided by Central Instrumentation Facility, South Campus, University of Delhi.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany, Gargi College, University of Delhi, Sirifort Road, New Delhi, 110049, India

    Bharti Sarin & Aparajita Mohanty

  2. Departamento de Biología Vegetal, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Agrónomos, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria s/n, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    Juan Pedro Martín

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  1. Bharti Sarin
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Correspondence to Aparajita Mohanty.

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Sarin, B., Martín, J.P. & Mohanty, A. Differences in population genetic structure of two ethnomedicinal herbs of the genus Phyllanthus from India: a consequence of anthropogenic intervention?. Plant Syst Evol 301, 667–676 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-014-1104-y

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