Applying Matk Gene for Identification of Liliopsida Plant Species from North Sulawesi through Bold Systems

DNA barcoding is a tool for species identification. For plant species identification, two of plastid genes (rbcL and matK) were used as standard barcodes. There are limitations of each gene marker but matK is considered to be the closest plant analogue to the CO1 animal barcode. As a mega-biodiversity country, Indonesia has many plant species used for ornamental and/or medical purposes. This study aimed to assess the identification of 15 known ornamental Liliopsida plant species in North Sulawesi using matK gene as a single marker. There were three possibilities result for species identification in this study: species level identification by top hit (1 specimen), species level identification by highest similarities (7 specimens), and genera level identification by highest similarities (7 specimens). Species identification by the highest similarity is reliable only when the result is identical with the sequence stored in the database.