Gholamreza Sharifi Sirchi, Yahya Esmaeilpour, Mojdeh Raam,
Volume 8, Issue 3 (1-2019)
Abstract
Asiatic mangrove, Rhizophora mucronata Lam, belongs to the genus Rhizophoraceae. Unlike, gray mangrove, Avicennia marina that is distributed in entire habitats of Persian Gulf and Oman sea, R. mucronata only grows in Sirik habitat. The aim of this study was to investigate the genetic diversity of R. mucronata in Khoor-Azini protected area (Hormozgan province, Sirik) using 18s rDNA gene sequences in order to understand the human role in introduction of this species to this region and to determine its ecological role. The samples were collected from three geographically separated regions. In each region, samples were taken from three age classes determined by tree size and three replicates for each age class. The sequences of two fragments of the 18s rRNA gene identified using specific primers. Asiatic mangrove species from the Khoor-Azini area showed 100 % identity base on 18s rDNA gene sequence. They showed 99.99 % gene identity with Rhizophora mucronata from India base on NCBI genbank information, indicating thatthis species is an immegrant species. Young, middle-aged, and adult genotypes were also quite identical, and there was no difference in the sequence of 18s rDNA gene among them in this region, indicating the same evolutionary pathway.
