MOLECULAR PHYLOGENETIC RELATIONSHIP AMONG ENDEMIC BALSMS OF WESTERN GHATS USING CHLOROPLAST atpB-rbcL SPACER SEQUENCES

Shajitha P.P1*, Dhanesh N. R1, Aneesha Devassy1, Jomy Augustine2, Linu Mathew1** 1 School of Biosciences, M.G. University, Kottayam, Kerala, India, 686560 2 Department of Botany, St. Thomas College, Pala, Kerala, India, **Corresponding author: linumathew@mgu.ac.in, Contact number: 9447505690 Key Words: Impatiens, PCR, atpB- rbcL, phylogram, N J Analysis *presenting author :shajithasuneer@gmail.com

Abstract Balsaminaceae are annual or perennial herbs and consist of more than 1,000 species with only two genera Impatiens and Hydrocera. Impatiens consists of more than 1000 species. Out of which 210 species are found in India and at least 103 species of Impatiens are endemic to the Western Ghats (Bhaskar., 2012) .Taxonomic studies on Balsaminaceae have encountered several difficulties, leaving numerous relationships within Impatiens unresolved. This paper reports molecular phylogenetic study with chloroplast atpB-rbcL sequence data and propose a preliminary reconstruction of the intrageneric relationships in 22 Impatiens species. Hydrocera triflora (DQ 147896.1), Marcgravia maguirei (DQ 147896.1) and Marcgravia umbellata (DQ 147897.1) were selected as out group from GenBank. Total genomic DNA was extracted. Specific primers for the atpB-rbcL spacer in Balsaminaceae were synthesized (Steven et al.2006). 25l PCR reaction was set. The PCR product was visualized by 1.5% AGE with 100 bp ladder. The PCR products were directly sequenced. The obtained atpB-rbcL sequences were initially aligned with Clustal W applying the default parameters and edited with Bio Edit 7.0.0. A distance analysis applying NJ optimality criteria was conducted on reduced data matrices by using MEGA Version 5.05 with 1000 Bootstrap values and a phylogram was constructed. REFERENCES Baskar, V. 2012 Taxonomic monograph on Impatiens L. (Balsaminaceae) of Western Ghats, South India the key Genus for Endemism. Bangalore: Centre for Plant Taxonomic Studies.