Esterase polymorphisms in relict endemic Liquidambar orientalis Mill. var. orientalis and L. orientalis Mill. var. integriloba Fiori populations in Turkey

In this study, esterase isozyme polymorphisms in Boreal-Tertiary origin relict endemic L. orientalis populations were investigated. Four populations located in the Southern and the Southwestern regions of Turkey were screened. Two of these populations (Fethiye-Günlüklü and Fethiye-İnlice) belong to subspecies L. orientalis Mill.var. orientalis. The other two (Muğla-Köyceğiz and Antalya-Gebiz) belong to subspecies L. orientalis Mill.var. integriloba Fiori. A total of 12 esterase bands were detected and named according to their increasing relative mobilities on the polyacrylamide gels. Six of them were α-esterases, four of them were β-esterases and the remaining two were α / β-esterases. These 12 esterase bands resulted in 37 different banding patterns in four populations. Only four of these 37 patterns were common among the populations. The levels of variations detected within and among the populations were surprisingly high. According to the results obtained from this study, subspecies L. orientalis Mill. var. orientalis and subspecies L. orientalis Mill. var. integriloba Fiori were not distinguished from each other in any respect. Being the first in the specialized literature of the studied plant species, this preliminary study carried out using esterase isozymes as a biochemical marker is important.