Molecular evolution and phylogenetic study of the atpB-rbcL spacer of chloroplast DNA in Ficus genus (Moraceae family)

Sequences of chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) atpB-rbcL intergenic spacer of Ficus carica L. and Ficus genus were examined in this study.
The base pair length for this spacer is 810 bp of the Ficus genus and with an average of 873.2 bp for the Ficus carica species.
The relatively high A+T values (66.8% (F. carica)-68.7% (Ficus genus)) of atpB-rbcL intergenic spacer may explain the high proportion of the identified transversions (ti/tv=0.349 (Ficus carica) and ti/tv=0.577 (Ficus genus). The observed variation patterns provide evidence that Ficus species have been undergoing rapid expansion of all sequences of atpB-rbcL intergenic spacer (Fu and Li’s statistical tests (D*:-3.06007*; P<0.05, F*: -3.29443**; P<0.02) and (D*:-5.81985**(P<0.02), F*: -5.28101**; P<0.02) for Ficus carica and Ficus genus, respectively), and positive selection without a hitchhiking effect.We notice also, that the Ficus carica species is among the oldest species of the genus that can be considered among the ancestral species.

VII International Symposium on Fig

G. Baraket, S. Haffar, S.B. Mustapha, D. Abdallah, A.S. Hannachi

chloroplast DNA, atpB-rbcL intergenic spacer, Ficus carica L., Ficus genus, Tunisia

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2024.1405.11