title: Phylogenetic inferences of Nepenthes species in Peninsular Malaysia revealed by chloroplast (trnL intron) and nuclear (ITS) DNA sequences.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The chloroplastic trnL intron and the nuclear internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region were sequenced for 11 Nepenthes species recorded in Peninsular Malaysia to examine their phylogenetic relationship and to evaluate the usage of trnL intron and ITS sequences for phylogenetic reconstruction of this genus.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Phylogeny reconstruction was carried out using neighbor-joining, maximum parsimony and Bayesian analyses. All the trees revealed two major clusters, a lowland group consisting of N. ampullaria, N. mirabilis, N. gracilis and N. rafflesiana, and another containing both intermediately distributed species (N. albomarginata and N. benstonei) and four highland species (N. sanguinea, N. macfarlanei, N. ramispina and N. alba).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The trnL intron and ITS sequences proved to provide phylogenetic informative characters for deriving a phylogeny of Nepenthes species in Peninsular Malaysia. To our knowledge, this is the first molecular phylogenetic study of Nepenthes species occurring along an altitudinal gradient in Peninsular Malaysia.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Systems Biology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), 43600, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Hamidun
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bunawan
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental and Natural Resource Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), 43600, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Choong Chee
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Yen
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental and Natural Resource Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), 43600, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Salmah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yaakop
authors.affiliation: Institute of Systems Biology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), 43600, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia. normah@ukm.edu.my.
authors.forename: Normah Mohd
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Noor
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000235:genetics*; D018742:DNA, Chloroplast / Q000235:genetics*; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer / Q000235:genetics*; D007438:Introns / Q000235:genetics*; D008296:Malaysia; D010802:Phylogeny; D052583:Sarraceniaceae / Q000235:genetics*; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D018742:DNA, Chloroplast; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer
keywords: ITS; Nepenthes; Peninsular Malaysia; Pitcher plant