Evolutionary relationships in some selected species of Yarrow (Achillea spp.) ‎collected from various regions of Iran

Phylogenetic relationships were assessed in 10 different species of the Yarrow(Achillea spp.) originated from geographically different regions of Iran, using three different DNA markers namely ITS 4 and MatK 390. Both of them (MatK 390 and ITS 4) were amplified among all the 10 species, and the resultant amplicons were sequenced for further analyses. Phylogenetic tree of MatK 390 based on maximum likelihood could successfully place all the 10 species of the genus Achillea in a major cluster and outgroups (i.e., Tanacetum vulgare and T. parthenium) in the second major group. Taking phylogenetic tree of ITS 4 into account, all 9 out of 10 species of the genus Achillea were grouped into the first main cluster, while all four outgroups (i.e., T. vulgare, T. millefolium, T. macrophyllum, and Cotula cinerea) together with the one species of the genus Achillea (A. alepica) were placed in the second group. Altogether, the results of the current study demonstrated that both MatK 390 and ITS 4 are qualified enough to be utilized as a powerful DNA barcoding system and subsequently phylogenetics analysis in different species of the genus Achillea originated from geographically several regions of Iran.