TY - JOUR

T1 - Variability of leaf morphology and marker genes of members of the halophila complex collected in viet nam

AU - Vy, Nguyen Xuan

AU - Bujang, Japar Sidik

AU - Papenbrock, Jutta

N1 - Funding information: We are deeply indebted to Christina Lucas, Cologne, Germany, for initial introduction into the phylogenetic analysis and Tjard Bergmann, University of Veterinary Medicine, Hannover, Germany, for help with the CAOS analysis. We also thank all staff at the Institute of Botany, Leibniz University Hannover, Germany, and at the Department of Marine Botany, Institute of Oceanography, Viet Nam, for kind support in the laboratory work and sample collection. This research was financially supported by the Leibniz University Hannover and the Government of Viet Nam.

PY - 2013/10/1

Y1 - 2013/10/1

N2 - Seagrasses are marine angiosperms and adapted to aquatic life several times independently. In tropical as well as in temperate regions they play an important role in the coastal ecosystem. Classification according to morphology remains difficult due to very similar adaptations to the aquatic lifestyle and small simple flowers which are often not even formed. Especially the Halophila genus (Hydrocharitaceae) forms a complex group with an unresolved taxonomy due to overlapping morphological characters and high plasticity leading to many misidentifications. Hence, this led to the hypothesis that phylogenetic analysis on the molecular level may resolve taxonomic classification. The aim of this study is to identify and unambiguously characterize Halophila species collected in Viet Nam using tree- and character-based analysis of rbcL and matK sequences. Results obtained from molecular data and leaf morphology indicate that there are at least three species found in Viet Nam. Topologies based on single locus or combined datasets were similar but not equal. Analysis of rbcL sequences showed lowest species resolution when only Halophila beccarii Aschers was resolved at the Halophila complex. matK shows better resolution with respect to H. beccarii and H. decipiens Ostenfeld. Combined rbcL and matK consensus trees showed the highest species resolution when all species form three distinct clades representative for three difference species including H. beccarii, H. decipiens, and H. ovalis (R. Br.) Hook. f.

AB - Seagrasses are marine angiosperms and adapted to aquatic life several times independently. In tropical as well as in temperate regions they play an important role in the coastal ecosystem. Classification according to morphology remains difficult due to very similar adaptations to the aquatic lifestyle and small simple flowers which are often not even formed. Especially the Halophila genus (Hydrocharitaceae) forms a complex group with an unresolved taxonomy due to overlapping morphological characters and high plasticity leading to many misidentifications. Hence, this led to the hypothesis that phylogenetic analysis on the molecular level may resolve taxonomic classification. The aim of this study is to identify and unambiguously characterize Halophila species collected in Viet Nam using tree- and character-based analysis of rbcL and matK sequences. Results obtained from molecular data and leaf morphology indicate that there are at least three species found in Viet Nam. Topologies based on single locus or combined datasets were similar but not equal. Analysis of rbcL sequences showed lowest species resolution when only Halophila beccarii Aschers was resolved at the Halophila complex. matK shows better resolution with respect to H. beccarii and H. decipiens Ostenfeld. Combined rbcL and matK consensus trees showed the highest species resolution when all species form three distinct clades representative for three difference species including H. beccarii, H. decipiens, and H. ovalis (R. Br.) Hook. f.

KW - Halophila

KW - MatK

KW - Phylogenetic analysis

KW - RbcL

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84883800629&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.aquabot.2013.04.003

DO - 10.1016/j.aquabot.2013.04.003

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84883800629

VL - 110

SP - 6

EP - 15

JO - Aquatic botany

JF - Aquatic botany

SN - 0304-3770

ER -