Abstract
BackgroundMolecular research revealed that some of the European Calypogeia species described on the basis of morphological criteria are genetically heterogeneous and, in fact, are species complexes. DNA barcoding is already commonly used for correct identification of difficult to determine species, to disclose cryptic species, or detecting new taxa. Among liverworts, some DNA fragments, recommend as universal plant DNA barcodes, cause problems in amplification. Super-barcoding based on genomic data, makes new opportunities in a species identification.ResultsOn the basis of 22 individuals, representing 10 Calypogeia species, plastid genome was tested as a super-barcode. It is not effective in 100%, nonetheless its success of species discrimination (95.45%) is still conspicuous. It is not excluded that the above outcome may have been upset by cryptic speciation in C. suecica, as our results indicate. Having the sequences of entire plastomes of European Calypogeia species, we also discovered that the ndhB and ndhH genes and the trnT-trnL spacer identify species in 100%.ConclusionsThis study shows that even if a super-barcoding is not effective in 100%, this method does not close the door to a traditional single- or multi-locus barcoding. Moreover, it avoids many complication resulting from the need to amplify selected DNA fragments. It seems that a good solution for species discrimination is a development of so-called “specific barcodes” for a given taxonomic group, based on plastome data.
Highlights
Molecular research revealed that some of the European Calypogeia species described on the basis of morphological criteria are genetically heterogeneous and, are species complexes
Structure and sequence variation of the Calypogeia plastid genome Plastid genome of Calypogeia is a circular molecule consisted of typical regions for land plants: a large single copy (LSC) ranging from 82, 377 bp in C. arguta to 83, 289 bp in C. muelleriana, a small single copy (SSC) ranging from 19, 933 bp to 20, 016 bp in C. arguta and two inverted repeat regions (IRs) in the range from 8, 236 bp in C. muelleriana to 8, 674 bp in C. azorica (Fig.1)
Our results indicate that C. suecica requires further molecular and morphological studies
Summary
Molecular research revealed that some of the European Calypogeia species described on the basis of morphological criteria are genetically heterogeneous and, are species complexes. Some DNA fragments, recommend as universal plant DNA barcodes, cause problems in amplification. Liverworts are one of three divisions (besides mosses and hornworts) of plants known as bryophytes, and comprise about 7, 000 species in the world [1]. Liverworts are organisms that played a key role in land plants evolution. As fossil evidence suggests liverworts were among the first land plants and present. In Europe, there are only nine species of Calypogeia: C. azurea Stotler & Crotz, C. integristipula Steph., C. neesiana (Massal.& Carestia) M üll. Frib., C. suecica (Arnell & J.Perss.) M üll. Frib., C. sphagnicola (Arnell & J.Perss.) Warnst. Some of the species e.g. C_azurea, C. suecica, C. sphagnicola, C. integristipula, C. neesiana have wider distribution in northern hemisphere, and are reported from North America, Europe and Asia [15,16,17]
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