DNA barcoding the plants of Monte Desert, Argentina.

M. TADEY; SOUTO, C. P.

GENOME

NATL RESEARCH COUNCIL CANADA-N R C RESEARCH PRESS

Lugar: Otawa; Año: 2015 vol. 58 p. 286 - 287

0831-2796

BackgroundBiodiversity conservation is an actual challenge giventhe increasing habitat loss due to human activities that are causing extintion,local extintion or reduction of species populations. Preserving speciesevolutionary potential (i. e. the genetic variability) is important becauseallows them to respond to changing environments and ensure populationspersistence. DNA barcoding todetermine variation in species attributable to evolutionary history and the assessmentsof floristic surveys from geographic areas can enhance the development ofregional barcoding libraries, providing vital data for community phylogenyconstruction, studies in ecology and conservation biology. MonteDesert occupies a vast area of Argentina and its being threatened by human landuse. This study aims to investigate the utility and species resolution of DNAbarcoding in the vegetation of Monte Desert. We used a phylogenetic method(neighbour-joining trees) of DNAbarcodes rbcLa and ITS2 togain a better understanding of regional barcode variation. ResultsWe analysed 75species from 400 samples collected throughout Monte distribution. DNA barcodes were obtained for 190 specimens/61species. We obtained 48specimens/ 27 species: 22 genus: 13 families for ITS2 and 76 specimens/36 species: 29 genus: 17 familiesfor rbcLa. Barcode analysis showed a mean within species divergence of 10.84 ± 0.74% and 10.32 ± 0.8% ; 16.32 ± 0.64% and 10.32 ±0.6% within genus; 24.99 ± 0.17 and 11.2 ±0.2 within families (ITS2 and rbcLa, repectively).The mean intra-specific divergence was 9.07 ± 1.12  and 1.66  ±0.19 and the mean species divergence from the nearest neighbour was 15.15 ±0.43 and  1.93 ±0.07 (ITS2 and rbcLa, repectively). SignificanceThese results provideda better understanding of regional variation in barcode sequences Monte Deser, Argentina.This study expand the global DNA barcodedatabase for desert plants and contributes to the knowledge of the applicationof barcoding to biogeography conservation in plants.