Phylogenetic Study of Korean Chrysosplenium Based on nrDNA ITS Sequences

The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions of nuclear ribosomal DNA from genus Chrysosplenium were sequenced to address phylogenetic relationship. ITS including 5.8S sequence varied in length from 647 bp to 653 bp. Among them, 219 sites were variable sites with parsimony-informative. The aligned sequences were analyzed by maximum parsimony (MP) and neighbor-joining (NJ) methods. In the strict consensus trees of parsimony analysis, the monophyly of Chrysosplenium was supported by 100% bootstrap value. The first clade, C. pseudofauriei was at the basal position of the genus, and others formed two clades with high bootstrap support. The second clade included Ser. Pilosa and Ser. Oppositifolia and third clade included Ser. Alternifolia and Ser. Flagellifera. The NJ trees showed essentially the same topology. Finally, DNA sequences of ITS regions were useful phylogenetic marker in this genus. Based on the ITS and ridge seed morphological results, C. sphaerospermum Maxim. and C. valdepilosum (Ohwi) S.H. Kang & J.W. Han were discussed their scientific names and taxonomic positions.