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Research Paper | Molecular Biology | India | Volume 12 Issue 2, February 2023

Molecular Identification and Phylogenetic Analysis of Some Selected Plants in the Home Gardens of Udupi and Dakshina Kannada Districts of Karnataka, India

Ramya Rai P. D. | Shobha ^[58]

Abstract: Varieties of plants act as a sink for CO2 thereby fixing carbon during photosynthesis and store excess carbon in the form of biomass. Vast forest areas present in India and its different states accumulate large amount of carbon as CO2 from atmospheric air and play an important role for sequestering carbon. Thus, the goal of our study was to perform field survey to collect carbon sequestering home garden plants present in and around Dakshina Kannada, Karnataka and subject them for DNA barcoding technique to authenticate those medicinal plants. DNA barcoding methods have been shown to be an effective tool for species authentication targeting specific genes from genomic DNA which is widely used in molecular plant taxonomy. DNA samples were extracted from shortlisted 15 plants including trees, shrubs and herbs. Plants collected were Artocarpus camansi, Nerium indicum, Averrhoa bilimbi, Laurus nobilis, Morinda citrifolia, Caesalpinia pulcherrima, Barleria acanthoides, Sauropus androgynus, Crossandra infundibuliformis, Allamanda cathartica, Achyranthes aspera, Talinum fruticosum, Kalanchoe pinnata, Dieffenbachia seguine and Pandanus amaryllifolius, chosen based on phytosociological properties and biodiversity of plants. The selected plants were further taxonomically identified using MatK, ITS2 and Rbcl2 genes as best molecular markers for DNA barcoding purposes. The genomic DNA was isolated from plants, mentioned genes were amplified using PCR and subjected to Sanger sequencing. The sequences were screened in NCBI BLAST for identifying species and phylogenetic analysis was conducted using Clustal Omega. Our findings authenticated the plant species that play major role in purifying air around us. Hence, this barcoding technique behaves as genuine and simple method to authenticate plant species which had socioeconomic importance.

Keywords: genomic DNA, PCR, Sanger sequencing, NCBI, phylogeny, species authentication

Edition: Volume 12 Issue 2, February 2023,

Pages: 1190 - 1205