The low-copy nuclear gene Agt1 as a novel DNA barcoding marker for Bromeliaceae

• Published in: BMC plant biology Vol. 20; no. 1; p. 111
• Main Authors: Bratzel, Fabian, Heller, Sascha, Cyrannek, Nadine, Paule, Juraj, Leme, Elton M C, Loreth, Anna, Nowotny, Annika, Kiefer, Markus, Till, Walter, Barfuss, Michael H J, Lexer, Christian, Koch, Marcus A, Zizka, Georg
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 12.03.2020; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Biological evolution; Bromeliaceae; Bromeliaceae - classification; Bromeliaceae - genetics; Bromeliads; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; DNA barcoding; DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic; DNA, Plant - genetics; Flowering; Gene sequencing; Genetic aspects; Genetic diversity; Genetic markers; Identification and classification; Low-copy nuclear gene; Methods; Phylogenetics; Physical characteristics; Plant collections; Plant Proteins - genetics; Species; Studies; Success; Varieties; Germany; Bromeliads; Plant collections; Low-copy nuclear gene; DNA barcoding
• ISSN: 1471-2229; 1471-2229
• DOI: 10.1186/s12870-020-2326-5

The angiosperm family Bromeliaceae comprises over 3.500 species characterized by exceptionally high morphological and ecological diversity, but a very low genetic variation. In many genera, plants are vegetatively very similar which makes determination of non flowering bromeliads difficult. This is particularly problematic with living collections where plants are often cultivated over decades without flowering. DNA barcoding is therefore a very promising approach to provide reliable and convenient assistance in species determination. However, the observed low genetic variation of canonical barcoding markers in bromeliads causes problems. In this study the low-copy nuclear gene Agt1 is identified as a novel DNA barcoding marker suitable for molecular identification of closely related bromeliad species. Combining a comparatively slowly evolving exon sequence with an adjacent, genetically highly variable intron, correctly matching MegaBLAST based species identification rate was found to be approximately double the highest rate yet reported for bromeliads using other barcode markers. In the present work, we characterize Agt1 as a novel plant DNA barcoding marker to be used for barcoding of bromeliads, a plant group with low genetic variation. Moreover, we provide a comprehensive marker sequence dataset for further use in the bromeliad research community.