Morphological, Cytological, Palynological and Molecular Characterization of Certain Mangifera Species

The Mangifera genus has more than 60 species, mostly distributed in tropical Asia. The wild relatives of Mangifera are considered reservoirs of potential genes that can confer tolerance/resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. The morphological, cytological and molecular characterization of eight species was done to study the diversity and phylogenetic relationship among different Mangifera species. In order to study the evolutionary relationship and polymorphism among the mango species, the ITS1/ITS4 gene and partial chloroplast psbH-trnH genes were sequenced. Phylogenetic analysis of the nuclear and chloroplast marker revealed that the M. indica L. is closely related to M. griffithii and M. camptosperma, which belong to subgenus Mangifera. Results indicate that the taxonomic position of M. andamanica should be reconsidered as this species is very close to Bouea oppositifolia which is evident from both ITS and psbAtrnH rDNA analysis. The morphological traits such as tree, leaf, flowers and fruits and palynological and cytology of the genus mango were used to distinguish the species and its phylogentic status. The morphological traits among various species indicate the high level of variability which were further confirmed with ITS sequences and cpDNA. Phylogenetic analysis illustrates that partial chloroplast psbH-trnH gene gave better polymorphism in mango species than nuclear ITS. The pollen morphology and chromosomal counts were also done in certain Mangifera species to study the phylogenetic relationship.