Abstract
The genus Fritillaria comprises approximately 130 perennial herbaceous species. In the Pharmacopoeia of the People’s Republic of China, the bulbs of 11 Fritillaria species are used in Chinese herbal medicines. However, the traditional methods of morphological classification cannot accurately identify closely related species of Fritillaria. Previous studies have attempted to identify these species with universal molecular markers, but insufficient phylogenetic signal was available. In this study, the complete chloroplast genomes of eight Fritillaria species were compared. The length of the eight Fritillaria chloroplast genomes ranges from 151,009 bp to 152,224 bp. A total of 136 SSR loci were identified, including 124 polymorphic SSR loci. For large repeat sequences, 108 repeat loci and four types of repeats were observed. Ten highly variable regions were identified as potential molecular markers. These SSRs, large repeat sequences and highly variable regions provide important information for the development of genetic markers and DNA fingerprints. Phylogenetic analyses showed that the topological structures of all data sets (except the IR regions) were in complete agreement and well resolved. Overall, this study provides comprehensive chloroplast genomic resources, which will be valuable for future studies of evolution and species identification in Fritillaria.
Highlights
The genus Fritillaria, in the family Liliaceae, includes approximately 130 species of perennial herbaceous flowers[1,2]
Genetic markers are available for the perfection of plants fingerprints and the identification of similar Fritillaria bulbs
It will be better to realize the genetic relationship of Fritillaria species, when the phylogenetic tree is constructed with genetic markers
Summary
The genus Fritillaria, in the family Liliaceae, includes approximately 130 species of perennial herbaceous flowers[1,2]. Ronsted et al.[10] recovered strong support for two major clades in the genus Fritillaria, one comprising species from the mainly North American subgenus Liliorhiza and the other made up of species from the seven remaining subgenera They constructed a phylogenetic tree based on matK and rpl[16] sequences, and that tree did not resolve Fritillaria as monophyletic. Complete chloroplast genome sequences are valuable for deciphering phylogenetic relationships between closely related taxa and for improving our understanding of the evolution of plant species. Complete chloroplast genome sequences are valuable for deciphering the phylogenetic relationships among closely related taxa, for improving our understanding of the evolution of plant species, for exploiting DNA barcodes to identify varieties, and for promoting germplasm innovation. We identify simple sequence repeats (SSRs), larger repeat sequences and highly variable regions for developing DNA barcodes and test the feasibility of phylogenetic analyses using the chloroplast genome
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