Sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of phenylalanine ammonia lyase (pal) and chalcone synthase (chs) genes in some Iranian endemic species of Apiaceae

The Apiaceae family includes many valuable medicinal species. The Phenyl propanoid pathway is a source of many of critical secondary metabolites. Hence, the identification of involved genes will improve a better understanding of their medicinal properties. The purpose of this research was to obtain a genomic DNA sequence of two important genes including phenylalanine ammonia lyase 2 (pal2) and chalcone synthase (chs) in some Iranian endemic species of Apiaceae viz. Dorema aucheri, Ferula assa-foetida, Prangos ferulaceae, Kelussia odoratissima Mozaff., Ferulago angulata, Heracleum persicum, and Ducrosia anethifolia. For this purpose, conserved regions of each gene were sequenced. Multiple alignments revealed that studied sequences shared a high degree of similarity based on genes pal2 (78%) and chs (66.9%). The results from the neighbor-joining analysis produced different topologies with moderately to high support. The genera of Ferula and Dorema were the closest, while Ferulago and Ducrosia possessed a greater genetic distance to each other based on the pal2 gene. Moreover, the two genera (Ferulago and Prangos) were grouped based on genes pal2 and chs. The NJ analysis revealed that the four Apiaceae genera did not form a monophyletic group based on the chs gene, which showed a higher level of diversity in the chs family alongside the expansion of Apiaceae. Partial-length genomic DNA sequence of these genes helped realize their evolutionary relationships and led to a better understanding of antioxidant and medicinal properties. •A partial-length genomic DNA sequence of pal2 and chs genes in some endemic species of the Apiaceae family was obtained.•Examined sequences shared a high degree of similarity based on these genes.•The study showed a higher level of variation in the chs family alongside the evolution of Apiaceae family.•The pal2 sequence of all genes did not cluster together in the phylogenetic tree.•pal2 sequences encode different pal isoforms that might be evolved by divergence after a gene duplication event.