Informative chloroplast regions in Ilex paraguariensis and Ilex affinis for phylogenetic and species identification

TALAVERA STÉFANI, LILIANA NOELIA; FAY, JESSICA V.; PERCUOCO, CECILIA BEATRIZ; ROJAS, CRISTIAN ANTONIO; MIRETTI, MARCOS; SEIJO, GUILLERMO; ARGÜELLES, CARINA FRANCISCA

Foz de Iguazu

Congreso; 11th International Congress of Plant Molecular Biology; 2015

MINCYT Argentina - Sociedad Brasilera de Genetica

Argentina contains seven species of the genus Ilex L. (Aquifoliaceae), including I. paraguariensis (yerba mate), which is economically important, and I. affinis, a shrubby species of riparian habitat that was recently cited as occurring in Atlantic Forest. Knowing that within the genus the phylogenetic relationships of I. affinis are still unknown and there is a need for makers that can be used to determine dopants in yerba mate, this work aimed to characterize chloroplast regions that could help in establishing phylogenetic relationships between I. affinis and other species of the genus in South America, as well as differentiate I. paraguariensis from I. affinis. Fifteen individuals (I. paraguariensis= 11, I. affinis= 4) were collected from distant natural and cultivated populations of I. paraguariensis from Argentina and Paraguay and a natural population of I. affinnis from Argentina. DNA sequence analyses of one intron [trnL] and two intergenic spacers [petG-trnP, psbJ-petA] identified one haplotype for each species showing no intraspecific differences. The haplotype differences were transitions, transversions and InDels. Phylogenetic relationships were inferred based on the analysis of 469bp of trnL intron, including sequences of eight species of Ilex available in GenBank and considering Helwinia japonica as outgroup. Our results revealed the existence of two clusters: one grouping Brazilian species and the second grouping most of the Argentine species. Inside the latter, I. affinis and I. dumosa were grouped (BS: 0.89). We also demonstrated the relevance of the chloroplast regions in species identification that could contribute to determine dopants in yerba mate products.