Abstract Detail

Systematics

Oshingboye, Dolapo [1], Onuminya, Temitope [1], Nodza, George [1], Ogundipe, Oluwatoyin [1].

EVALUATING THE UTILITY OF rbcL IN IDENTIFYING NIGERIAN SPECIES OF THE GENUS AFZELIA SMITH: An implication for conservation .

The Genus Afzelia represent one of the most useful trees species in tropical Africa with huge socioeconomic and ecological importance, but are under serious threat from incessant exploitation. This has significantly decimated the species in the wild, and several are now registered under threatened and endangered in the IUCN red list categories. However, conserving this species for posterity has been hampered by the complexity in the morphological character that exists among the Afzelia species. In our study we evaluated the utility of rbcL as a single barcode region, exploring its performance to accurately identify Nigerian Afzelia species and determine the relationships that exists between species. Our results revealed an overlap between intraspecific distance and interspecific divergence with an overall mean distance of 0.002. Likewise, identification based on all species barcode, best match and best close match analysis on TaxonDNA depicted 46.15% and 57.14% of correct and ambiguous identification respectively. Correct identification according to all species barcodes accurately identified 64.3% of data represented in 9 sequences and 3 species. Phylogenetic analysis based on UPGMA, NJ, MP and BI analysis supports the monophyly of Afzelia with values at 98%, 100%, 93.41% and 1 respectively. It also revealed non-congruence among species of A. africana and A. quanzensis which suggests a not too clear relationship between A. africana and its sister species. This implies rbcL is not an ideal plant barcode region for successful identification of Nigerian Afzelia species.

1 - University of Lagos, Department of Botany, Akoka, Yaba, Lagos, Lagos, 23401, Nigeria

Keywords:
DNA barcodes
IUCN
Plant identification
conservation.

Presentation Type: Poster
Session: P, Systematics
Location: Exhibit Hall/Omni Hotel
Date: Monday, June 26th, 2017
Time: 5:30 PM This poster will be presented at 5:30 pm. The Poster Session runs from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm. Posters with odd poster numbers are presented at 5:30 pm, and posters with even poster numbers are presented at 6:15 pm.
Number: PSY001
Abstract ID:53
Candidate for Awards:None