Phylogenetic Analysis of Solanum macrocarpon: The Evolutionary Relationships and Species Diversification

Solanum macrocarpon commonly known as African eggplant originates from Africa and consumed all over the world for medicinal and culinary values. Despite its immense values, limited research on the plant is available on its species diversity and evolutionary relationships which could provide valuable insights for medicinal research. This study sought to investigate the evolutionary relationships and species diversification using molecular phylogenetic data of DNA sequences obtained from the rbcL gene of the plant species. Maximum Likelihood, Neighbour-Joining, and maximum parsimony tree methods were employed to infer phylogeny using MEGA۱۱ software. Results obtained inferred using branch lengths revealed the consensus; S. macrocarpon was slightly diverse than another identical species MH۷۲۲۳۷۶.۱_Solanum macrocarpon; the only sample of rbcL region found on the NCBI database. Also, species found to be in a relatively closer evolutionary relationship with S. Macrocarpon consistent across the analysis methods include OM۹۶۵۶۲۵.۱_Solanum violaceum_subsp._multiflorum, OM۹۶۵۶۲۴.۱_Solanum violaceum_ subsp._violaceum, and MK۱۲۲۶۳۸.۱_Solanum_pubescens while KT۱۷۸۱۲۳.۱_Solanum rostratum, GU۱۳۵۲۳۸.۱_ Solanum tampicense, OPP۷۱۱۵۳۰.۱ Solanum aligerum, KJ۸۴۱۵۷۶.۱_Solanum americanum, and KT۱۷۸۱۲۴.۱_Solanum triflorum are in a relatively distant relationship with S. Macrocarpon consistent across the analyses.

کلیدواژه ها:

Phylogenetic analysis ، DNA barcoding ، Solanum ، RBCL