DNA Barcoding of Ricinus communis from Different Geographical Origin by Using Chloroplast matK and Internal Transcribed Spacers

Mohamed Enan, Mohammad Al-Deeb, Nael Fawzy, Khaled Amiri

Department of Biology, UAE University, Al-Ain, UAE.
Flora and Phyto-Taxonomy Research Department, Horticultural Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Giza, Egypt.

DOI: 10.4236/ajps.2012.39157                

Abstract

Ricinus communis have attracted considerable attention because of its specific industrial and pharmacological activities. DNA barcodes can be used as reliable tools to facilitate the identification of medicinal plants for the safe use, quality control and forensic investigation. In this study, the differential identification of eight accessions of R. com-munis was investigated through DNA sequence analysis of two candidate DNA barcodes. The nucleotide sequence of internal transcribed spacers (ITS2) and chloroplast maturase gene (matK) have been determined to construct the phylogenetic tree. The phylogenetic relationships of accessions based on the nrITS2 region and partial matK region showed that all accessions in this study were related to three geographical origins. Based on sequence align-ment and phylogenetic analyses we concluded that the ITS2 sequences can distinguish R. communis accessions from different geographical distributions.

Keywords

DNA Barcoding; Internal Transcribed Spacer; Maturase K; Ricinus communis

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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