The evolution of rbcL: A methodology to follow the evolution patterns of Medicago and Sulla (Fabaceae) genera

Abstract The chloroplast rbcL gene is selected to be a standard barcode for the phylogenetic analyses of several land plants. Using universal primers pair, the 3’ frame was used to assess the phylogeny of the two Legume genera Medicago and Sulla and the evolution of the translated protein. The multiple alignment exhibited high conservation rates (97.56% and 96.43% for Medicago and Sulla respectively), which might be a brake for the phylogenetic assessment. Nevertheless, the topologies of the cladograms drawn using Maximum Likelihood method, showed a low intraspecific divergence and a slightly high interspecific variation, which confirms the efficiency of rbcL for such characterization’ analyses. Besides, the composition and the patterns of the Amino-Acid sequence and the deduced Codon Usage, highlighted a non-aleatoire distribution of the codons. Thus, the non-synonymous substitutions rates traduced a positive selection occurring in the rbcL of the Medicago and Sulla species.