In the present study, we utilized ISSR molecular markers to investigate infraspecific and infrageneric genetic variations in 34 populations from 25 Nepeta L. taxa. We used the CTAB protocol for DNA extraction. PCR was performed using 20 ISSR primers, and 12 of which produced scorable bands. The genetic diversity and polymorphism analyses showed high genetic variation among the taxa and their populations. The Analysis of Molecular Variance revealed significant genetic variation (P ≤ 0.001), which its great part belonged to among taxa variation. These findings were supported by the considerable amounts of genetic differentiation (G_ST) and total genetic variation in the pooled species (H_T) that revealed the high genetic divergence of the studied taxa. Furthermore, the reticulation network of gene flow, a small number of gen flow index (Nm), and the mean difference within each species (H_S) indicated a reduced level of gene flow among the taxa. We detected high genetic diversity among the populations of the same species, which revealed high infraspecific diversity. The haplotype network (TCS) demonstrated genetic difference at similar loci among each population’s individuals due to mutations on a scaffold of genetic relationships. According to STRUCTURE analysis and the neighbor-joining tree, 15 genotypes were detected among the studied taxa and their populations. The clustering pattern of these taxa and their populations did not agree with previous infrageneric classifications of Nepeta species in sections or groups. The occurrence of mutations and restricted gene flow create high infraspecific genetic divergence, which is reflected well in the infrageneric classification of Nepeta. Therefore, infraspecific variation should be considered in each taxonomic treatment of the genus.

在本研究中，我们利用 ISSR 分子标记来研究来自 25 个荆芥类群的34 个种群的种下和种下遗传变异。我们使用 CTAB 协议进行 DNA 提取。使用 20 个 ISSR 引物进行 PCR，其中 12 个产生可评分的条带。遗传多样性和多态性分析表明该类群及其种群之间存在较高的遗传变异。分子变异进行分析，结果显著的遗传变异（P  ≤0.001），其中的很大一部分属于类群的变化之中。这些发现得到了汇集物种中大量遗传分化 (G _ST ) 和总遗传变异 (H _T）揭示了所研究类群的高度遗传差异。此外，基因流的网状网络、少量的基因流指数（Nm）和每个物种内的平均差异（H _S）表明类群之间的基因流水平降低。我们在同一物种的种群中检测到高遗传多样性，这揭示了高种内多样性。由于遗传关系支架上的突变，单倍型网络 (TCS) 证明了每个种群个体之间相似位点的遗传差异。根据STRUCTURE分析和邻接树，在所研究的类群及其种群中检测到15个基因型。这些分类群及其种群的聚类模式与以前的属下分类不一致荆芥属部分或群体。突变的发生和受限制的基因流动会产生很高的种下遗传差异，这在荆芥属的种属分类中得到了很好的反映。因此，在该属的每个分类处理中都应考虑种下变异。