Integrating DNA Barcoding and Traditional Taxonomy for the Identification of Dipterocarps in Remnant Lowland Forests of Sumatra
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Department of Forest Genetics and Forest Tree Breeding, University of Göttingen, Büsgenweg 2, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
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Biodiversity, Macroecology and Biogeography, University of Göttingen, Büsgenweg 1, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
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Center for Integrated Breeding Research, University of Göttingen, Albrecht-Thaer-Weg 3, 37075 Göttingen, Germany
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Laboratory of Population Genetics, N. I. Vavilov Institute of General Genetics, Russian Academy of Sciences, 3 Gubkin Str., Moscow 119333, Russian
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Laboratory of Forest Genomics, Genome Research and Education Center, Institute of Fundamental Biology and Biotechnology, Siberian Federal University, 50a/2 Akademgorodok, Krasnoyarsk 660036, Russia
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Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-2138, USA
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Southeast Asian Regional Center for Tropical Biology (SEAMEO BIOTROP), Jalan Raya Tajur Km. 6, Bogor 16144, Indonesia
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Department of Silviculture, Faculty of Forestry, Bogor Agricultural University, Dramaga Campus, Bogor 16680, Indonesia
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Plants 2019, 8(11), 461; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants8110461
Received: 23 August 2019 / Revised: 7 October 2019 / Accepted: 17 October 2019 / Published: 30 October 2019
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant DNA Barcode)
DNA barcoding has been used as a universal tool for phylogenetic inferences and diversity assessments, especially in poorly studied species and regions. The aim of this study was to contrast morphological taxonomy and DNA barcoding, using the three frequently used markers matK, rbcL, and trnL-F, to assess the efficiency of DNA barcoding in the identification of dipterocarps in Sumatra, Indonesia. The chloroplast gene matK was the most polymorphic among these three markers with an average interspecific genetic distance of 0.020. The results of the molecular data were mostly in agreement with the morphological identification for the clades of Anthoshorea, Hopea, Richetia, Parashorea, and Anisoptera, nonetheless these markers were inefficient to resolve the relationships within the Rubroshorea group. The maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference phylogenies identified Shorea as a paraphyletic genus, Anthoshorea appeared as sister to Hopea, and Richetia was sister to Parashorea. A better discriminatory power among dipterocarp species provided by matK and observed in our study suggests that this marker has a higher evolutionary rate than the other two markers tested. However, a combination of several different barcoding markers is essential for reliable identification of the species at a lower taxonomic level.