Specific shoot formation in Miscanthus saccharif lorus (Poaceae) under different environmental factors and DNA passportization using ISSR markers

The generic complex Miscanthus Anderss. (Poaceae) is a unique example among herbaceous plants characterized by high values of growth of aboveground vegetative mass and practical use as a valuable source of alternative energy. Miscanthus is one of the most eff icient solar energy accumulators, and since phytomeliorative use implies the cultivation of these resource plants in inconvenient and semi-shady areas, the question about the effect of insuff icient lighting on the productivity of Miscanthus arises. As a result of a long-lasing introduction effort, the Central Siberian Botanical Garden SB RAS created a population of Miscanthus saccharif lorus (Maxim.) Benth., which has good prospects for growing under the conditions of the forest-steppe area in Western Siberia. The goals of our study were: (1) to determine the peculiarities of shoot formation, (2) to assess the cellulose and lignin accumulation in M. saccharif lorus populations under different lighting conditions and (3) to perform a DNA passportization of the Miscanthus population by ISSR marking. Evaluation of shoot formation and the amount of accumulated cellulose and lignin in plants was carried out under different degrees of illumination: one variant was grown in a sunny area, and the other, in partial shade. As a result of analysis of variance, it was found that the number of shoots does not depend on environmental conditions, but on the age of the plant, while environmental conditions have a signif icant effect on plant height. Although the samples of both M. saccharif lorus variants were characterized by different rates of creation of a continuous projective cover, plants in semi-shaded areas formed up to 89.34 % of shoots compared to their peers in illuminated areas, which did not affect signif icantly the size of the aboveground mass and the cellulose content in it. As a result of ISSR-analysis of genomic DNA in the M. saccharif lorus population, unique molecular polymorphic fragments were identif ied, which can be used for identif ication and DNA passportization at the inter-population level. Thus, the complex use of M. saccharif lorus as a valuable meliorative and bioenergetic culture is due to the high adaptive potential of this species. It was found that the illumination factor has virtually no effect on the amount of the cellulose content in the shoot, and a reduced content of the technologically undesirable lignin was observed in plants growing in the partial shade conditions.