Phylogenetic relationships of the genus Castanea based on chloroplast rbcL with focusing Irania Chestnu

The aim of this study is the evaluation of chloroplast rbcl markers in the genetic differentiation and phylogenetic relationships of European chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.), which is one of the valuable species of endangered Hyrcanian Forests .In this study, the use of molecular markers is the easy and fast way in identifying taxonomic position of northern Iranian Castanea. Meanwhile, leaf samples were collected from all the habitat of this species in Iran (4 sites listed in the western part of the province of Gilan). Genomic DNA from leaves were extracted by CTAB method.( modified by Janfaza and et al inter periation 2016) PCR reaction amplified by universal rbcl primers and the fragments were sequenced .The results showed that rbcl region in Iranian Castanea is about 542 nucleotides .The comparison of the available sequences in GenBank, the numbers of nucleotides adenine and thymine in Castanea were more than other nucleotides which was similar with Iranian Castanea species in nucleotide composition .Phylogenetic Tree analysis showed that from 542 nucleotide positions, there were 22 conserved sites, 17 variable sites, and 8 parsimony positions. Based on the phylogenetic tree drawn on the base of rbcl marker showed that Iranian Castanea is in the same group with C.sativa species .Also the highest genetic similarity was observed between the Hyrcanian Castanea and European Castanea .