DNA barcoding untangles the family tree of flowering mallow shrubs
Abdullah, Yan R, Sammad A, Vallada A, Tian X
Crop Improvement
If you grow Abutilon (flowering maple) for its bell-shaped blooms, this research gives breeders and taxonomists reliable genetic markers to finally sort out which species are which, since the group has long confused even experts.
Abutilon is a group of about 178 flowering shrub species, some grown as ornamentals and others used in traditional medicine, but figuring out how they're all related has stumped botanists for years. Researchers sequenced the chloroplast DNA, the small genetic package plants inherit only from their mother plant, from 19 species and found two clear family branches: an Australian desert-dwelling group and a group scattered across tropical regions worldwide. They also found specific DNA stretches that vary enough between species to work as reliable fingerprints for telling them apart.
Key Findings
Chloroplast genomes ranged from 159,458 to 160,454 base pairs across 19 Abutilon species, each containing 112 genes (78 protein-coding, 30 tRNA, 4 rRNA) with conserved structure
Simple sequence repeats varied widely (70-97 per genome) and three genes (rpoC2, rbcL, ycf1) showed signs of positive selection despite overall purifying selection dominating
Six highly variable DNA regions (including trnH-psbA and rps19-rpl2) were identified as useful markers for future taxonomic studies, and phylogenetic analysis revealed two major clades: an exclusively Australian arid-adapted lineage and a pantropical lineage
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists mapped the chloroplast genomes of 19 Abutilon species, a group of flowering shrubs known as Chinese lanterns or Indian mallow, to sort out a family tree that's been notoriously hard to untangle. The DNA evidence splits Abutilon into two major branches: one found only in Australia's dry regions and another spread across tropics worldwide.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Evolutionary dynamics of the chloroplast genome in Abutilon (Malvoideae, Malvaceae).
The genus Abutilon Mill. (Malvaceae) comprises approximately 178 species distributed across tropical and subtropical regions, many of which hold significant ornamental, economic, and medicinal valu...
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Abutilon is a large genus of flowering plants in the mallow family, Malvaceae. It is distributed throughout the tropics and subtropics of the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Australia. General common names include Indian mallow and velvetleaf; ornamental varieties may be known as room maple, parlor m...