ITS1 LOCUS: A Major Determinant of Genetic Diversity of Plantago SPP. (Plantaginaceae)

Abstract

By this study, ITS (Internal Transcribed Spacer) regions in the nuclear DNA of 10 Plantago samples collected from Mongolia (5 samples) and Viet Nam (5 samples) were sequenced and constructed Maximum Parsimony (MP) and Neighbor Joining (NJ) phylogenetic trees for establishing the genetic relationship. The results showed that 10 samples belonged to 2 species (7 Plantago major and 3 Plantago depressa). The length of sequences ranged from 632 to 644 bp (ITS1 ranged from 210-222 bp, 5.8S was 162 bp, and ITS2 259 - 261 bp). The ITS1 region was highly variable among the sequences whereas ITS2 and 5.8S regions were more conservative. The MP and NJ trees apparently separated P. major and P. depressa into 2 different groups, supported with high bootstrap values. P. depressa was first time reported in Mongolia. The results highlighted that ITS sequences could distinguish P. major and P. depressa, which is certainly important for pharmacist to use crude drugs derived from Plantago