Comparative identification of common Aspen Parkland plant species using three molecular barcodes
This study evaluated the effectiveness of three chloroplast barcodes ( trnL, rbcL, and matK) for identifying 14 co-occurring plant species representing six common families of plants in the Aspen Parkland of Alberta. Maximum likelihood phylogenetic analysis and genetic distancing showed that matK exhibited the highest within-family genetic distance but lacked universal primers. While rbcL was easily amplified, it had lower discriminatory power. In contrast, trnL offered superior within-family species discrimination and possesses a shorter fragment that can be amplified, which lends it suitable for next-generation sequencing of degraded plant DNA in fecal samples of herbivores.
Authors
- James F. Cahill (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4110-1516)
- Valentine Udeh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9742-1439)
- Carolyn Fitzsimmons (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5506-4309)
- Le Luo Guan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8420-4371)
- Francisco José de Novais (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2487-8523)
- Lisa L. Raatz
- Eric G. Lamb (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5201-4541)
- Edward William Bork (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2623-8223)
Institutions
- Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (CA)
- University of British Columbia (CA)
- University of Alberta (CA)
- University of Saskatchewan (CA)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Canadian Journal of Plant Science
- Published
- 2025-01-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1139/cjps-2025-0031
- Primary Topic
- Environmental DNA in Biodiversity Studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00