rbcl and matk earn two thumbs up as the core dna barcode for fernsrbcl和matk赚两个大拇指为核心的蕨类植物的dna条形码.pdfVIP

rbcL and matK Earn Two Thumbs Up as the Core DNA Barcode for Ferns 1 2 1 3 4 Fay-Wei Li *, Li-Yaung Kuo , Carl J. Rothfels , Atsushi Ebihara , Wen-Liang Chiou , Michael D. Windham1, Kathleen M. Pryer1 1 Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America, 2 Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, 3 Department of Botany, National Museum of Nature and Science, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki, Japan, 4 Division of Botanical Garden, Taiwan Forestry Research Institute, Taipei, Taiwan Abstract Background: DNA barcoding will revolutionize our understanding of fern ecology, most especially because the accurate identification of the independent but cryptic gametophyte phase of the fern’s life history—an endeavor previously impossible—will finally be feasible. In this study, we assess the discriminatory power of the core plant DNA barcode (rbcL and matK), as well as alternatively proposed fern barcodes (trnH-psbA and trnL-F), across all major fern lineages. We also present plastid barcode data for two genera in the hyperdiverse polypod clade—Deparia (Woodsiaceae) and the Cheilanthes marginata group (currently being segregated as a new genus of Pteridaceae)—to further evaluate the resolving power of these loci. Principal Findings: Our results clearly demonstrate the value of matK data, previously unavailable in ferns because of difficulties in amplification due to a major rearrangement of the plastid genome. With its high sequence variation, matK complements rbcL to provide a two-locus barcode with strong resolving power. With sequence variation comparable to matK, trnL-F appears to be a suitable alternative barcode region in ferns, and perhaps