Phylogenetic relationships among congeneric Oxytropis species from Asian Pacific region based on trnS-trnG sequences
Alla B. Kholina1, Marina N. Koldaeva2 & Valentin V. Yakubov1
1Federal Scientific Center of the East Asia Terrestrial Biodiversity FEB RAS, Vladivostok, 690022, Russia 2Botanical Garden-Institute FEB RAS, Vladivostok, 690022, Russia
Reliable discrimination of congeneric species based on molecular markers is required for preserving genetic diversity. There are conflicting opinions on the relationships of four far-eastern endemic Oxytropis species (O. kunashiriensis Kitam. from the Kuril Islands, O. ruthenica Vass. from the South Primorye, O. erecta Kom. and O. litoralis Kom. from the Kamchatka Peninsula). Some authors consider these species in the rank of separate species. In other treatments, O. ruthenica is considered as a subspecies of O. litoralis, the last species – as a synonym of O. erecta, and O. kunashiriensis – as a closely related to O. litoralis and O. erecta. The trnS–trnG intergenic spacer of the chloroplast DNA has high resolving power to reveal the relationships of closely related Oxytropis species, and it is informative and reliable marker for species identification and discrimination. The results of phylogenetic analyses of O. kunashiriensis, O. ruthenica, O. erecta and O. litoralis inferred from trnS-trnG sequences show that O. kunashiriensis and O. ruthenica are the separate species. There were not found significant differences between O. erecta and O. litoralis.