Molecular systematic properti̇es of Rhododendron L. (Eri̇caceae) taxa distributed in the borders of Kaçkar Nati̇onal Park (Ri̇ze)

In this study, Rhododendron L. (Ericaceae) taxa were investigated with respect to molecular systematics. Plant materials used in the study were collected from fields between 2013-2014. These specimens were firstly identified according to traditional methods and each species stored in herbarium as taxa. Genomic DNA's then were isolated from healthy leaves to identify ITS patterns of each samples. ITS region of the examined samples were amplified by using universal primers and then sequenced. Amplified ITS bands were aligned and analyzed by using MEGA 6.05 software. Phylogenetics tree were formed in order to explain genetic relationship among the taxa. Molecular evidences inferred from sequencing data were compared with population aggregation analysis's results based on the morphological characters to reveal accurate relationship among studied taxon.