Phylogenetic relationships in Leymus (Poaceae: Triticeae) revealed by the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer and chloroplast trnL-F sequences.

Using the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences and the chloroplasttrnL-F sequence, phylogeneic analysis was performed on 57 accessions of species in the tribe Triticeae including 13 Leymus species (N(s)) with different ploidy levels and 40 diploid species from 18 genera. The ITS sequences revealed that ployploid Leymus has close phylogentic relationships with Psathyrostachys and an undefined genus in Triticeae. The trnL-F tree demonstrated close relationships between certain Leymus species and Psathyrostachys, and other Leymus species distributed in North America were far from Psathyrostachys. Based on these results, it is unlikely that the unknown genome in Leymus species originated from one of the sampled diploid species in the present study. The maternal donor of all the Leymus species with a natural distribution in Eurasia were N(s) genome. Furthermore, Elymus californicus should be transferred from the genus Elymus to Leymus.