Plant Diversity ›› 2006, Vol. 28 ›› Issue (2): 127-132.

• Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effect of ITS Pseudogene on the Phylogenetic Study of Quercus ( Fagaceae) and Its Revelation on the Plant Molecular Phylogenetics

 MA  Chang-Le-1、2,   Zhou-Zhe-Kun-1**   

  1. 1 Laboratory of Biodiversity and Bi ogeography , Kunming Insti tute of Botany , Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650204, China;
    2 Graduate School , Chinese Academy of Sci ences , Beijing 100039, China
  • Online:2006-04-25 Published:2014-01-17

Abstract:

Sequences of ITS in nrDNA is one of the widely used markers in angiosperm systematics. Many early reports of
ITS reg ion ( ITS 1, 518S and ITS 2) variation in flowering plants indicated that nrDNA arrays within individuals are homogeneous.
However, recent studies have discovered that individuals often contain potentially non-functional nrDNA copies
( pseudogenes) . These findings suggest that complete concerted evolution should not be assumed when embarking on phylogenetic
studies using nrDNA sequences. ITS pseudogene has been detected in the genus of Quercus L. and misled the
phylogenetic reconstruction, which made this genus frequently focused in the related studies. The authors take this genus
as an example to discuss the influence of the pseudogene on the phylogenetic study, conclude that combining application of
molecular evolution and classic taxonomy knowledge in plant systematics study may lead to more convincible results.

Key words: ITS, Pseudogene, Quercus , Molecular phylogenetics

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