Botanikai kutatás Kazahsztánból / Botanical research from Kazakhstan

Az elmúlt hónapokban tanszékünkön dolgozott Akerke Serbayeva, PhD-hallgató Kazasztánból. Akerkéről, a kutatásukról és az itt végzett munkáról szól alább ez a beszámoló egy interjú formájában.

Akerke Serbayeva, a PhD student from Kazakhstan was working at our department in the last few months. This interview below is about Akerke, their research and the work she has done here.

Akerke in Budapest.

FR: - First, please tell me some things about yourself…where do you live exactly and what are you doing in Kazakhstan?

-          − I am Akerke Serbayeva and I live in Almaty, which is the largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population of almost 2 million people. It served as the capital of the Kazakh state under the influence of the Soviet Union until 1997. It is located in the mountainous, southeastern part of the country in the foothills of the Trans-Ili-Alatau. I finished my Master’s degree as a biologist in Almaty at Al-Farabi Kazakh National University (http://www.kaznu.kz/), and now I am a PhD student in the second year of my studies.

FR: - What is your research topic?

-          − My research is about the state of coenopopulations of the rare, endemic and medicinal species Erysimum croceum in the Ili Alatau mountains under the supervision of Prof. N.M. Mukhitdinov from Al-Farabi Kazakh National University and Dr. Gábor Sramkó from the University of Debrecen. The aim of this research is to study the biological, ecological features and to assess the modern condition of coenopopulations of Erysimum croceum in the Ili Alatau considering morphological and anatomical features, characteristics of coenopopulations and parameters of genetic diversity. 

Erysimum croceum (photo: Akerke Serbayeva)

FR: What is the relevance of your research, and why did you choose this species?

-          − The intensity of human impact on nature is growing very fast, and there is an urgent need to preserve biological diversity. Erysimum croceum is a rare and local endemic species, which belongs to the family Brassicaceae. Among all Middle Asian representatives of the genus, E. croceum is the only species that has bright orange petals; hence the specific epithet “croceum”. The distribution area of Erysimum croceum М. Pop. is reduced every year so it is included in the “Red Book” of Kazakhstan. Despite a relatively large distribution area which includes Trans-Ili Alatau, Ketmentau, Kungey and Kyrgyz Alatau the species remains poorly studied due to low population sizes and sporadic distribution. Plants occur individually or in small groups of up to ten individuals. Only on two occasions have we found populations consisting of several hundred individuals, but even those groups did not exceed 500 plants in number. Population numbers fluctuate widely as a result of the biennial life cycle and preference for frequently disturbed habitats such as rocky cliffs, mudflows, and pebble cascades. The number of E. croceum populations is declining due to habitat destruction and uncontrolled harvesting of flowering plants for ornamental purposes. To protect the species in the wild, all existing populations have to be examined and monitored, and conservation measures developed. This, in turn, requires detailed knowledge of morphology and biology of the species, as well as an assessment of the state of its populations. We have been studying the species since 2015; we have also collected material allowing us to study interpopulation genetic variability. The novelty of our research lies in the discovery and subsequent study of the three new populations of E. croceum, one of which was found at an extremely low elevation of 1728  m  a.s.l. Our results allow to estimate more precisely the elevational preferences of the species than before, which was earlier found only between 2000–2600 m a.s.l. For the first time, we collected data on the age structure, population density, morphological characteristics of vegetative and generative plants, and their variability. We have already published an article on these results.

Collected specimens of Erysimum croceum (photo:Akerke Serbayeva)

FR:- Why did you come to University of Debrecen, what did you do here and how is it connected to your research?

-          − I was accepted to study as a postgraduate student at the Department of Botany of the University of Debrecen (Hungary) from the 20^th of August to the 16^th of November 2018 under the direction of Dr. Gábor Sramkó (PhD), the head of the MTA-DE “Lendulet” Phylogenomics Research Group based at the department. I visited the University of Debrecen in order to carry out molecular laboratory work on the conservation genetics of Erysimum croceum. During the internship, the following studies were carried out in connection with my doctoral dissertation:

1.    DNA extraction from fixed material from 49 samples deriving from 4 populations,

2.    amplification and sequencing of polymorphic DNA-regions with Polymerase Chain                 Reaction (PCR),

3.       study of DNA-variation at the genomic level using next-generation sequencing (NGS).

Based on these, the phylogenetic position of Erysimum croceum was determined using the DNA sequence of polymorphic DNA-regions (nrITS, trnL-trnF), and we could also investigate genetic diversity and differentiation of my target populations in the Tian Shan Mts.

FR:- Was your work successful here?

-          − According to the results of the work carried out, the necessary data were obtained for publishing a scientific article in an international journal. The experience gained in molecular genetic research is valuable for further work on my thesis.