Chinese Bulletin of Botany ›› 2016, Vol. 51 ›› Issue (5): 609-619.DOI: 10.11983/CBB15141

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Polymorphism of the Internal Transcribed Spacer of nrDNA in Cinnamomum Schaeffer (Lauraceae)

Jianfeng Huang1,2, Lang Li1, Jie Li1*   

  1. 1Laboratory of Plant Phylogenetics and Conservation, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650223, China
    2University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
  • Received:2015-08-11 Accepted:2015-11-13 Online:2016-09-01 Published:2016-09-27
  • Contact: Li Jie
  • About author:

    # Co-first authors

Abstract: In this study, nuclear ribosomal DNA (nrDNA) ITS fragments of 17 Cinnamomum samples were cloned and sequenced. A total of 87 different ITS sequences were obtained. Their length polymorphism, GC content, secondary structure stability of the 5.8S region, p-distance, evolutionary pattern and phylogenetic relationships were analyzed. The ITS sequences had a high degree of polymorphism. Among the 87 ITS sequences, 22 were pseudogenes and the other 65 were functional genes. The pseudogenes showed a neutral evolutional pattern and had a higher degree of polymorphism than functional genes. The incomplete concerted evolution of the ITS region and pseudogenes within the genus Cinnamomum may have also occurred in other Lauraceae plants, which could be responsible for the low sequencing success rate of the ITS region in Lauraceae plants.