Genetic Structure and Phylogenetic Analysis of Liquidambar orientalis Mill. (Altingiaceae) Populations Based on Non-Coded psaA/ycf3 Intergenic Region in The Chloroplast Genome in Türkiye

Objective: The genus Liquidambar , is one of many woody genera with morphologically similar species in America, Southeast Europe, and Asia and is thought to have existed on Earth for about 65 million years. Liquidambar orientalis (Anatolian sweetgum tree) is distributed in southwestern Türkiye. With this study, it was aimed to reveal the sequence differences of the psaA/ycf3 inter-gene space region of chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) in L. orientalis populations for the first time in the scientific literature. Materials and Methods: In addition, the polymorphism levels, and the molecular evolution of the studied gene region of the L. orientalis populations were investigated. 154 samples were collected from 12 different populations belonging to four provinces, Muğla, Burdur, Antalya, and Aydın, and were studied and the psaA/ycf3 gene encoded by chloroplast DNA was analysed by partial base sequence analysis. Results: Haplotype diversity ( h ) and the average nucleotide diversity (π) values for all populations were found to be 0.52933 ± 0.011, and 0.00086 ± 0.0001, respectively. According to the results of our research, the gene flow level ( N m ) among the populations was 1.40. F ST values revealed statistically significant genetic differences between the Fethiye-Yanıklar population of Muğla province and other studied populations. Conclusion: According to the results of the study, Fethiye-Yanıklar, Marmaris-National Park, and Fethiye-İnlice locations, where the highest genetic diversities detected among the studied populations, were found to be important in terms of conservation studies.