Molecular characterization of the species Salvinia (Salviniaceae) from the upper Paraná River floodplain

Abstract

ABSTRACT. The pteridophytes Salvinia minima, S. herzogii, and S. auriculata are among the most abundant aquatic macrophytes in the upper Paraná River floodplain. Since some species have highly similar morphological features, it is very difficult to identify members of this genus to the species level. An indication of this difficulty is a set of poorly differentiated taxa comprising S. auriculata and S. herzogii known as the 'S. auriculata complex', which is found in the Paraná River together with other Salvinia species such as S. biloba and S. molesta. Some authors have reported the existence of inter-species hybrids. Despite the complex Salvinia taxonomy, few genetic studies have been performed on purported species within the genus to resolve this complexity. The present study was conducted to determine useful molecular sequences for the discrimination of Salvinia species of the upper Paraná River floodplain. Molecular data were compared with data of other species of the genus to clarify phylogenetic relationships, employing the nucleotide sequence trnL-trnF from the chloroplast DNA. The results revealed that Salvinia populations in the upper Paraná River floodplain belong to different species and indicated that species of the S. auriculata complex may be distinguished from one another after the division of the S. minima group, corroborating results by other researchers. Although the taxonomic position of S. oblongifolia was clarified, as high closeness between S. oblongifolia and the S. auriculata complex was reported, Salvinia kinship is still not thoroughly established and further investigations in morphology and molecular diversity are required.

Genetic differentiation of two morphotypes of Piper regnellii (Miq.) C. DC. var. regnellii

“…The results also showed that the trnL-trnF region varied between Piper species, reinforcing other studies on this region, which is quite diverse in size and composition, so it is widely used for the reconstruction of phylogenetic patterns in plants (Hilu & Liang, 1997). According to Machado, Oliveira, Fabrin, Prioli, and Prioli (2016), the trnL-trnF spacer in Salvinia species proved to be efficient in distinguishing close species. Ng, Sandoval and Murphy (2016) studied this same region in Lophophora and reported this region behaved as a good molecular marker for differentiation of species and genera, supporting our findings.…”

Salvinia plants in trade: what species are we actually talking about?

“…A recent molecular study on the Salvinia species in the Upper Parana River only looked at a single cpDNA region (trnL‐trnF) and compared their findings with existing GenBank sequence data (Machado et al, 2016). Plants identified as S. auriculata and S. herzogii clustered with molecular data for S. oblongifolia and S. molesta respectively that were cultivated in botanical gardens (Nagalingum et al, 2008).…”

“…In the latter study the trnL-trnF was not used for analysis. Unfortunately the newly generated sequence data of the Machado et al (2016) study is not deposited in GenBank so we could not compare the potentially additional S. auriculata data with our analysis. The quality of the generated trnL-trnF DNA sequence of our herbarium samples of S. auriculata was not sufficient to perform a reliable analysis.…”

Low genetic diversity in an African invasive Poaceae in Brazil

“…The correct identi cation of invasive aquatic plant species and information on their genetic variability are fundamental to understanding the mechanism of invasion (Naugzemyz et al 2021) and implementing management strategies, as well as research into potential control agents, including biological ones (Pitelli et al 2008). Molecular tools have been useful for the correct identi cation and analysis of genetic variability in macrophyte populations, including Urochloa in the Upper Paraná River basin (Machado et al 2016;Lucio et al 2019;Diamante et al 2020) and in other watersheds (Collevatti et al 2003;Cloutier et al 2005;Azevedo et al 2008). A previous study with U. arrecta in Itaipu reservoir (Brazil) showed a high degree of genetic homogeneity among populations in this ecosystem (Diamante et al 2020).…”