DNA Barcoding of Amaranthus Hybridus Using Rpoc1 Chloroplast DNA Region
TL;DR
The study confirms the usefulness of the rpoC1 gene region for identifying A.hydridus and provides additional molecular data for species, which may support plant identification and biodiversity documentation of Amaranthus based products.
Abstract
Amaranthus hybridus L. (green amaranth) is an important leafy vegetable widely consumed in Nigeria and valued for its nutritional and medicinal purposes. However, accurate identification of the species can be difficult because of its morphological similarity to other Amaranthus species. This study employed DNA barcoding to identify and characterize A. hybridus using the chloroplast rpoC1 gene region. Young leaf samples were collected from A. hydridus grown at the department of Plant Biology, University of Ilorin, from seeds obtained from NACGRAB,Ibadan. Genomic DNA was extracted using the ZymoBIOMICS DNA Miniprep Kit and the rpoC1 region was amplified using universal rpoC1F and rpoC1R primers. The amplified products were sequenced using the Sanger sequencing method. The resulting sequences were edited and assembled using SeqTrace while BLAST analysis was performed against sequences in the NCBI GenBank database. Phylogenetic analysis was conducted using the Maximum Likelihood method in MEGA 12. A consensus sequence of 531 bp was obtained. BLAST analysis showed100% sequence identity with a reference A. hybridus sequence (GQ248881.1) confirming the identity of the sample. The phylogenetic analysis also placed the study sample with the reference A. hybridus sequence with a strongly supported Amaranthusi clade (96% bootstrap support). The study confirms the usefulness of the rpoC1 gene region for identifying A.hydridus and provides additional molecular data for species. The findings may support plant identification and biodiversity documentation of Amaranthus based products. Further studies using multiple barcode regions are recommended to improve discrimination among closely related species.
