Abstract
THE FAMILY Lamiaceae (Labiatae) contains several genera, such as sage (Salvia), mint (Mentha) and basil (Ocimum) with a rich diversity of ethno botanical uses. It has an important role as a source of medicinal and aromatic compounds of commercial importance. Medicinal plants represent an important health and economic component of biodiversity. It is essential to make the complete inventory of the medicinal component of the flora of any country for conservation and sustainable use. The conservation of the threatened and endangered medicinal species in the wild is indispensable. Therefore, protein, isozymes, RAPD and ISSR markers were employed for molecular characterization, variability evaluation and genetic relationships of 12 Lamiaceae species collected from various areas Taif region, Saudi Arabia. All biochemical and molecular markers revealed high polymorphism percentages among the studied genotypes. The UPGMA clusters result indicated that all genotypes could be distinguished by these markers. The polymorphism information obtained through biochemical and molecular analyses may also help for further studies of other Lamiaceae genotypes in Saudi Arabia.