title: Assessment of candidate plant DNA barcodes using the Rutaceae family.
abstract: DNA barcoding is a rapidly developing frontier technology that is gaining worldwide attention. Here, seven regions (psbA-trnH, matK, ycf5, rpoC1, rbcL, ITS2, and ITS) with potential for use as DNA barcodes were tested for their ability to identify 300 samples of 192 species from 72 genera of the family Rutaceae. To evaluate each barcode's utility for species authentication, PCR amplification efficiency, genetic divergence, and barcoding gaps were assessed. We found that the ITS2 region exhibited the highest inter-specific divergence, and that this was significantly higher than the intra-specific variation in the "DNA barcoding gap" assessment and Wilcoxon two-sample tests. The ITS2 locus had the highest identification efficiency among all tested regions. In a previous study, we found that ITS2 was able to discriminate a wide range of plant taxa, and here we confirmed that ITS2 was also able to discriminate a number of closely related species. Therefore, we propose that ITS2 is a promising candidate barcode for plant species identification.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, Peking Union Medical College, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, 100193, China.
authors.forename: Kun
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: ShiLin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: KeLi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: JingYuan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.forename: XinYe
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: YingJie
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: XiaoHui
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Pang
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: XiWen
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Zhen
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D017931:DNA Primers; D018744:DNA, Plant / Q000235:genetics*; D017343:Genes, Plant; D014644:Genetic Variation; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D027821:Rutaceae / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D018744:DNA, Plant