The plant genus Lycium (Solanaceae) originated in the Americas and includes approximately 85 species that are distributed worldwide. The vast majority of Old World species occur in southern Africa and eastern Asia. In this study, we examine biogeographic relationships among Old World species using a phylogenetic approach coupled with molecular evolutionary analyses of the S-RNase self-incompati...

BACKGROUND At present, plant molecular systematics and DNA barcoding techniques rely heavily on the use of chloroplast gene sequences. Because of the relatively low evolutionary rates of chloroplast genes, there are very few choices suitable for molecular studies on angiosperms at low taxonomic levels, and for DNA barcoding of species. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We scanned the entire chlo...

Calligonum is the only C4 genus within Polygonaceae. We applied DNA sequences from nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (nrITS) and five plastid genome regions (psbA-trnH, ycf6-psbM, trnL-F, rpl32-trnL rbcL) to reconstruct phylogeny of Calligonum. The nrITS combined were analysed separately. supports treatment mongolicum complex as a single species with intra-specific geographic struct...

Although the chloroplast genome contains many noncoding regions, relatively few have been exploited for interspecific phylogenetic and intraspecific phylogeographic studies. In our recent evaluation of the phylogenetic utility of 21 noncoding chloroplast regions, we found the most widely used noncoding regions are among the least variable, but the more variable regions have rarely been employed...

Linaria Mill. (Plantaginaceae) with about 160 spp. is the largest genus of the tribe Antirrhineae. We conducted phylogenetic analyses of nuclear ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer region (ITS) and chloroplast DNA (rpl32-trnL) sequence data to test the monophyly of currently recognized sections in Linaria. For this purpose 86 species representing seven sections of Linaria and one species ...

Three plastid regions, matK, rpl32-trnL and rpl16 intron and the ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 nuclear ribosomal DNA were used to demonstrate a phylogenetic placement of the genus Hederorkis (Orchidaceae) for the first time. The taxonomic position of this genus has been unclear thus far. The phylogenetic and morphological relations of Hederorkis to the most closely related genera Sirhookera, Adrorhizon, Bromh...

Thlaspi arvense is a well-known annual farmland weed with worldwide distribution, which can be found from sea level to above 4000 m high on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP). In this paper, a phylogeographic history of T. arvense including 19 populations from China was inferred by using three chloroplast (cp) DNA segments (trnL-trnF, rpl32-trnL and rps16) and one nuclear (n) DNA segment (Fe-reg...

Biscutella raphanifolia is a species distributed in N Algeria and Tunisia, characterized by the presence of large, lyrate basal leaves, amplexicaul cauline leaves, and paniculate-branched inflorescences. It has been traditionally considered the only perennial taxon from B. sect. Biscutella, lifespan being the strongest argument used to differentiate B. raphanifolia from other annual taxa such a...