Molecular phytogeny of conifers using RFLP analysis of PCR-amplified specific chloroplast genes

Abstract

We investigated the molecular phylogeny of conifers using restriction endonuclease fragment length polymorphism of six polymerase chain reaction-amplified chloroplast genes - frxC, rbcL, psbA, psbD, trnK, and 16S. We detected 227 total site changes among species, representing 23, 26, 38, 48, 67, and 25 site changes in frxC, psbA, psbD, rbcL, trnK and 16S, respectively. The mean nucleotide substitution was 10.75% (SD 0.573) among species in five families. Forty maximally parsimonious trees were obtained using the Wagner parsimony method, and a 50% majority-rule consensus tree was obtained from them. Data analysis produced similar basic patterns when both the Wagner parsimony and the neighbor-joining methods were applied, and the main lineages were clearly separated. Taxaceae and Cephalotaxaceae species were used as the out-groups when applying Wagner parsimony methods. With the Wagner method, the consistency index was 0.510, the retention index was 0.879, and tree length was 435 steps. Our results indicated that Cupressaceae and Taxodiaceae are closely related families and that Sciadopitys verticillata is the basal lineage of Cupressaceae and Taxodiaceae. The neighbor-joining tree is similar to the 50% majority-rule consensus of the 40 Wagner parsimony trees except for the position of Keteleeria daversifolia, the Picea and Cedrus group, and the divergence within Cupressaceae.

Temporal and spatial characteristics of male cone development inMetasequoia glyptostroboidesHu et Cheng

“…[5][6][7] With regard to male cone morphology, the microsporophyll of Metasequoia consists of the phylloclade at the apex and commonly three microsporangia at the base; these characteristics are consistent with those of Sequoia and Sequoiadendron, 23 which represents a phylogenetic homology among these three genera. However, apart from the opposite arrangement of male cones in the leaf axils, there are several other notable differences in male cone morphology between Metasequoia and the other two genera, including lateral cone attachment on specialized shoots vs terminal on regular shoots, 23 and production of cones in clusters vs solitary.…”

“…Recent genetic and molecular marker data indicate that Metasequoia has a close relationship with Sequoia and Sequoiadendron, and that this group, previously placed within the Taxodiaceae, should be merged into the larger family Cupressaceae as subfamily Sequoioideae. [5][6][7] This merging is now becoming widely accepted. Metasequoia glyptostroboides is a monoecious species with male cones (pollen cones or microstrobili) and female cones (seed cones or megastrobili), which are both produced normally on one-year-old twigs of adult trees.…”

Genome Scan to Detect Genetic Structure and Adaptive Genes of Natural Populations of Cryptomeria japonica

“…Investigated loci: Total DNA was extracted from all samples using the slightly modified CTAB method of Tsumura et al (1995). We adopted a genomewide approach to detect the genetic diversity of, and differentiation between, populations of C. japonica, using 148 CAPS markers based on cDNA sequences from C. japonica (Tsumura et al 1997;Iwata et al 2001) (supplemental Table S1 at http:/ /www.genetics.org/supplemental/).…”

Genetic diversity and the genetic structure of natural populations of Chamaecyparis obtusa: implications for management and conservation

“…Total DNA was extracted from all samples using the slightly modified CTAB method of Tsumura et al (1995) or a DNeasy plant mini-kit (Qiagen GmbH, Hilden, Germany). The crude DNA was purified using a High Pure PCR Template Preparation Kit (Roche Co., Basel, Switzerland) when the quality of extracted DNA was insufficient for PCR.…”