Morphological and molecular genetic variations of some taxa of genus Acacia and their taxonomic significance1.

A resemble in Acacia s.l. spp. morphology causes a great confusion about its identification. So, the current study's objectives are using morphological and molecular traits for accurate identification of Acacia s.l. taxa, assess the discrimination of the newly proposed genera of Vachellia and Senegalia and detect the genetic variations between studied taxa. The morphological characters of 24 taxa of genus Acacia s.l. were investigated with emphasis on seeds. DNA fingerprint and the genetic relationships among the studied taxa were investigated by using 10 (RAPD) and 10 (ISSR) markers that showed a relatively equal polymorphism (about 15%). RAPD marker generated a total of 395 fragments of which 64 bands were polymorphic, while ISSR primers generated a total of 314 fragments, 46 of them were polymorphic. The generated dendrogram that based on 893 traits divided the studied taxa of Acacia s.l. into two major groups; Acacia s.s. group and Vachellia group that containing Senegalia taxa. The complementary use of morphological and molecular data gave an accurate characterization and clear the genetic variation between studied taxa of Acacia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]