Articles
Identifying the crop wild relatives of jute (Corchorus olitorius and C. capsularis)
Article number
1460_11
Pages
91 – 98
Language
English
Abstract
The genus Corchorus (now included within Malvaceae, formerly Tiliaceae) consists of an estimated 70 species spread throughout the tropical Americas and the Caribbean, subtropical Africa, South and Southeast Asia, Melanesia, and Australia.
The most recent phylogenetic study of the genus used nuclear rDNA ITS sequences and 47 of the extant species to recover a well-supported backbone in which 4 groups of species were strongly supported, but relationships within these groups were poorly resolved.
While many species of Corchorus are utilized, 2 are economically important but agronomically neglected and underutilized: Corchorus olitorius and C. capsularis. The ITS phylogeny recovered C. olitorius as sister to 2 of the American species which contradicts previous theories about the extant wild relatives of the economically important species.
Although there are dozens of species endemic to Australia, only a handful have been included within previous phylogenetic studies.
Therefore, greater taxa, especially from Australia, and loci sampling will increase the resolution of the phylogeny and provide a clearer picture of relationships within the genus.
This study uses 25 named taxa within Corchorus (at the species or subspecies rank) along with whole plastome data to give a phylogenomic perspective of the crop wild relatives of jute.
DNA from each taxon was extracted using a standard CTAB method, Illumina libraries were prepared for whole genome sequencing, and de novo plastomes assembled using GetOrganelle.
A phylogeny of the genus was reconstructed using 77 plastid coding sequences with Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian approaches.
The resulting topologies comport with previous studies while offering new perspectives on the crop wild relatives that may serve as sources of genetic improvement for the economically important species of jute.
The most recent phylogenetic study of the genus used nuclear rDNA ITS sequences and 47 of the extant species to recover a well-supported backbone in which 4 groups of species were strongly supported, but relationships within these groups were poorly resolved.
While many species of Corchorus are utilized, 2 are economically important but agronomically neglected and underutilized: Corchorus olitorius and C. capsularis. The ITS phylogeny recovered C. olitorius as sister to 2 of the American species which contradicts previous theories about the extant wild relatives of the economically important species.
Although there are dozens of species endemic to Australia, only a handful have been included within previous phylogenetic studies.
Therefore, greater taxa, especially from Australia, and loci sampling will increase the resolution of the phylogeny and provide a clearer picture of relationships within the genus.
This study uses 25 named taxa within Corchorus (at the species or subspecies rank) along with whole plastome data to give a phylogenomic perspective of the crop wild relatives of jute.
DNA from each taxon was extracted using a standard CTAB method, Illumina libraries were prepared for whole genome sequencing, and de novo plastomes assembled using GetOrganelle.
A phylogeny of the genus was reconstructed using 77 plastid coding sequences with Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian approaches.
The resulting topologies comport with previous studies while offering new perspectives on the crop wild relatives that may serve as sources of genetic improvement for the economically important species of jute.
Authors
W.T. McMahan, O. Hortsman
Keywords
Malvaceae, crop improvement, neglected and underutilized species
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