1. Re-establishment of species from synonymies based on DNA barcoding and phylogenetic analysis using Diplopterygium simulans (Gleicheniaceae) as an example
- Author
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Yu-Feng Gu, Rui Zhang, Yue-Hong Yan, Hong-Mei Liu, Ying Wang, Hui Shen, Dongmei Jin, Bayu Adjie, Hong-Jin Wei, Jiang-Ping Shu, Faguo Wang, Xi-Le Zhou, and Hui Shang
- Subjects
0106 biological sciences ,0301 basic medicine ,Species Delimitation ,Molecular biology ,Synonym ,Speciation ,Population Dynamics ,lcsh:Medicine ,Evolutionary biology ,Artificial Gene Amplification and Extension ,Polymerase Chain Reaction ,01 natural sciences ,DNA barcoding ,Genus ,lcsh:Science ,Phylogeny ,Molecular systematics ,Computer and information sciences ,Multidisciplinary ,Phylogenetic tree ,Database and informatics methods ,Sequence analysis ,Phylogenetic Analysis ,Plants ,Insects ,Phylogenetics ,Drosophila ,Identification (biology) ,Research Article ,Species complex ,Evolutionary Processes ,DNA, Plant ,Arthropoda ,Bioinformatics ,Evolutionary systematics ,Zoology ,Biology ,Data management ,010603 evolutionary biology ,Fruits ,03 medical and health sciences ,DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic ,Animals ,Gleicheniaceae ,DNA sequence analysis ,Taxonomy ,Population Biology ,lcsh:R ,Organisms ,Biology and Life Sciences ,Figs ,biology.organism_classification ,Invertebrates ,Geographic Distribution ,Research and analysis methods ,Molecular biology techniques ,030104 developmental biology ,Genetic distance ,Ferns ,lcsh:Q - Abstract
Because synonymy treatment traditionally relies on morphological judgments, it usually causes many problems in species delimitation and in the biodiversity catalogue. For example, Diplopterygium simulans, which belongs to the Gleicheniaceae family, has been considered to be synonymous with D. glaucum or D. giganteum based mainly on the morphology of its pinna rachis and blade. In the absence of molecular evidence, these revisions remain doubtful. DNA barcoding, which is considered to be a powerful method for species-level identification, was employed to assess the genetic distance among 9 members of the Diplopterygium genus. The results indicate that D. simulans is an independent species rather than a synonymy of D. glaucum or D. giganteum. Moreover, phylogenetic analysis uncovered the sisterhood of D. simulans and D. cantonense, which is supported by their geographical distributions and morphological traits. Incorrect synonymy treatment is prevalent in the characterization of biological diversity, and our study proposes a convenient and effective method for validating synonym treatments and discovering cryptic species.
- Published
- 2017