AOBPreview originally published online on November 13, 2002
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Annals of Botany 91: 49-54, 2003
© 2003 Annals of Botany Company
ITS Sequence Analysis and Phylogenetic Inference in the Genus Lens Mill.
1 C.N.R. Istituto del Germoplasma, Via Amendola 165/A, 70126 Bari, Italy
* For correspondence. Fax +39 080 558 75666, e-mail germgs15{at}area.ba.cnr.it
Received: 21 March 2002; Returned for revision: 11 August 2002; Accepted: 2 October 2002 Published electronically: 13 November 2002
The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the nuclear ribosomal DNA from cultivated lentil (Lens culinaris subsp. culinaris) and its wild relatives was isolated and analysed for nucleotide sequence variation. Sequence divergence values ranged from no polymorphism within single species and between the cultigen and one accession of its wild progenitor (L. culinaris subsp. orientalis) to 14 base substitutions between L. nigricans and L. lamottei. Jukes and Cantor distance ranged from 0 to 1·79 %. Phylogenetic analysis confirmed the divergence of L. nigricans from all species, and the closeness of cultivated lentil to its wild progenitor, although two gene pools could possibly be identified in subsp. orientalis. Based on this study, the two recently recognized species, L. lamottei and L. tomentosus were separated from the other species. Each wild species showed peculiar autapomorphies and, in general, did not display much variation among accessions. The trees using chickpea as an outgroup formed two main clusters, one constituted by L. nigricans only and the other including the remaining taxa. Within this larger group, small subclades could be identified.
Key words: Lens culinaris Medik. subsp. culinaris, lentil, wild species, ITS sequence, polymorphism, parsimony, phylogenetic relationships.