Isoenzyme markers of two hepatic species: Barbilophozia lycopodioides (Wallr.) Loeske, and B. hatcheri (A. Evans) Loeske

Abstract

Two closely related species of the genus Barbilophozia: B. lycopodioides and B. hatcheri were studied in populations from the Tatra Range (S Poland), where they are frequent and widely distributed. Both species play an important role in plant communities and grow here very often side by side. Typically developed plants are quite easy to distinguish (even in the field), however morphologically intermediate forms, difficult to recognize by using of classical taxonomic methods, sometimes are found. We found enzymatic markers, that allow to recognize the critical forms. Both studied species are different in enzymatic patterns of glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (GOT) and peroxidases (PX). In GOT four different phenotypes were detected. The first two (GOT 1 and GOT 2) were characteristic for B. hatcheri and next two (GOT 3 and GOT 4) for B. lycopodioides. Peroxidase patterns, that were monomorphic and specific for each species, exhibit different mobility in anodal and cathodal parts of gel. Results of the studies allowed us to draw the conclusion, that PX and GOT are good isoenzymatic markers and they can have practical application for identification of Barbilophozia species.