Genetic Divergence of Closely Related Species Oxytropis strobilacea, Oxytropis adamsiana, and Oxytropis vassilczenkoi (Series Strobilacei Section Orobia Family Fabaceae) from Asian Russia

Genetic diversity and divergence of closely related species Oxytropis strobilacea, O. adamsiana, and O. vassilczenkoi series Strobilacei section Orobia (Fabaceae) from Asian Russia were studied based on nucleotide polymorphism of cpDNA intergenic spacers psbA-trnH, trnL-trnF, and trnS-trnG , as well as ITS nrDNA. Most populations are characterized by a moderate or high level of chloroplast genetic diversity ( h varies from 0.600 to 1.000). In total, 65 chlorotypes have been identified, no shared chlorotypes were found in the taxa, which confirms the status of O. vassilczenkoi as a separate species. Two phyletic lineages have been identified in O. strobilacea , which indicates ongoing intensive diversification processes. One of the seven ITS ribotypes is shared for the three species, which is probably due to their common origin and relatively recent divergence.