Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Diversity, ecology and molecular phylogeny of genus Litsea (Lauraceae) in Central Western Ghat areas of India

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Tropical Ecology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A species complex group Litsea is a dioecious tree species characterized by having aromatic leaves, coriaceous inflorescence, introse anthers with hairy stamens. In the Western Ghats areas of Karnataka state, India; 12 species of Litsea are distributed. These species are almost identical in nature and are difficult to identify using only the morphological characters that to when they are not bloomed. Many researchers are trying to resolve the systematic complexity of the genus by different approaches. In the present study, morphological and molecular data were used to explain the systematic complexity and phylogeny of the group. In this study we have used both morphological characters as well as molecular phylogeny characterization by using certain primers. For morphological data set we have used 16 phenotypic characters among 12 Litsea species along with two outgroup species collected from Central Western Ghats. For molecular studies total genomic DNA was isolated by freshly collected leaf samples, amplified and sequenced by using different primer combination for comparing the phylogeny results. The sequence fragments of each taxon were first edited individually then analysed and aligned in the software Sequencher 5.2. The combination of ITS1, ETS1 and 18S-IGS primers data was found to be very useful to get phylogenetic tree. Addition of more species from different geographical regions may yield a clear phylogeny of the genus.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abeysinghe PD, Wijesinghe KG, Tchida H, Yahoda T (2009) Molecular characterization of Cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum) accessions and evaluation of genetic relatedness of Cinnamon species in Sri Lanka based on TrnL Intron region, Intergenic spacers between trnT-trnL, trnL-trnF, trnH-psbA and nuclear ITS. Res J Agric Biol Sci 5:1079–1088

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Baldwin BG, Markos S (1998) Phylogenetic utility of the external transcribed spacer (ETS) of 18S–26S rDNA: congruence of ETS and ITS Trees of Calycadenia (Compositae). Mol Phylogenet Evol 10:449–463

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Barrett M, Donoghue MJ, Sober E (1991) Against consensus. Syst Zool 40:486–493

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bhuniya T, Singh P, Mukherjee SK (2010) An account of the species of Litsea Lam. (Lauraceae) Endemic to India, Bangladesh. J Plant Taxon 17:183–191

    Google Scholar 

  • Bremer B, Jasen B, Oxelman M, Backlund H, Kim KJ (1999) More characters or more taxa for a robust phylogeny: a case study from the coffee family (Rubiaceae). Syst Biol 48:413–435

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bull JJ, Huelsenbeck JP, Cunningham CM, Swofford DL, Wadell PJ (1993) Partitioning and combining data in phylogenetic analysis. Syst Biol 42:384–397

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chanderbali AS, van der Werff H, Renner SS (2001) Phylogeny and historical biogeography of Lauraceae: evidence from the chloroplast and nuclear genomes. Ann Mo Bot Gard 88:104–134

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chang YT, Chu FH (2011) Molecular cloning and characterization of monoterpene synthesis from Litsea cubeba (Lour.) Person. Tree Genet Genomes 7:835–844

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cunningham CW (1997) Can three incongruence tests predict when data should be combined? Mol Biol Evol 14:733–740

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dowell K (2008) Molecular Phylogenetics: an introduction to computational methods and tool for analysing evolutionary relationships. Math 500

  • Fijridivanto IA, Murakami N (2009) Phylogeny of Litsea and related genera (Laureae-Lauraceae) based on analysis of rpb2 gene sequences. J Plant Res 122:283–298

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fijridivanto IA, Murakami N (2010) Phylogeny of Litsea (Lauraceae) inferred from sequences of the chloroplast genes matK and ndhF. Bul Kebun Raya 13:2010

    Google Scholar 

  • Gamble JS, Fischer CEC (1998) Flora of Presidency of Madras, vol 2. Adlard and Son Limited, Hart Street

    Google Scholar 

  • Gentry AH (1988) Changes in plant community diversity and floristic composition on environmental and geographical gradients. Ann Mo Bot Gard 75:1–34

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goldman N, Lio P (1998) Models of molecular evolution and phylogeny. Genome Res 8:1233–1244

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goodstadt L, Ponting CP (2006) Phylogenetic reconstruction of orthology, paralogy, and conserved synteny for dog and human. PLoS Comput Biol 2:1134–1150

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Graybeal A (1998) Is it better to add taxa or characters to a difficult phylogenetic problem? Syst Biol 47:9–17

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hall BG (2004) Phylogenetic trees made easy: a how-to manual, 2nd edn. Sinauer Associates, Inc., Sunderland

    Google Scholar 

  • Han F, Lijia X, Peng Y, Ma P, Wang W, Zhang X, Xiao P (2014) The pattern of genetic diversity within Litsea coreana (Lauraceae) in China: an implication for conservation. Plant Syst Evol 10:14–31

    Google Scholar 

  • Hillis DM (1998) Taxonomic sampling, phylogenetic accuracy and investigator bias. Syst Biol 47:3–8

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Huang JF, Li L, Werff HVD, Li HW, Rohwer JG, Crayn DM, Meng HH, Merwe MV, Conran JG, Li J (2016) Origins and evolution of Cinnamon and camphor: a phylogenetic and historical biogeographical analysis of the Cinnamomum group Lauraceae. Mol Phylogenet Evol 96:33–44

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kluge AG (1989) A concern for evidence and a phylogenetic hypothesis of relationships among Epicrates. Syst Zool 38:7–25

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lanyon SM (1993) Phylogenetic frameworks: towards a firmer foundation for the comparative approach. Bot J Linn Soc 49:45–61

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li WH (1997) Molecular evolution. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland

    Google Scholar 

  • Li J, Christophel DC, Conran JG, Li HW (2004) Phylogenetic relationships within the “core” Laureae (Litsea complex, Lauraceae) inferred from sequences of the chloroplast gene matK and nuclear ribosomal DNA ITS regions. Plant Syst Evol 246:19–34

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Li L, Li J, Conran JG, Li XW, Li HW (2007) Phylogeny of Neolitsea (Lauraceae) inferred from Bayesian analysis of nrDNA ITS and ETS sequences. Plant Syst Evol 269:203–221

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Li J, Conran JG, Chrostophel DC, Li ZM, Li L, Li HW (2008) Phylogenetic relationships of the Litsea complex core Laureae (Lauraceae) using ITS and ETS sequences and morphology. Ann Mo Bot Gard 95:580–599

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mabberley DJ (2008) The plant book: a portable dictionary of plants, their classification and uses, 3rd edn. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p 496

    Google Scholar 

  • Miyamoto MM, Fitch WM (1995) Testing species phylogenies and phylogenetic methods with congruence. Syst Biol 44:64–76

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mort ME, Soltis PS, Soltis DE, Mabry ML (2000) Comparison of three methods for estimating internal support on phylogenetic trees. Syst Biol 49:160–171

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ngernsaengsaruay C, Middleton DJ, Chayamarit K (2011) A revision of the genus Litsea Lam. (Lauraceae) in Thailand. Thai for Bull (bot) 39:40–119

    Google Scholar 

  • Queiroz AD, Donoghue M, Kim J (1995) Separate versus combined analysis of phylogenetic evidence. Annu Rev Ecol Evol Syst 26:657–681

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rohwer JG (2000) Towards a phylogenetic classification of the Luraceae: evidence from matK sequences. Syst Bot 25:60–70

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rohwer JG, Rudolph B (2005) Jumping genera: the phylogenetic positions of Cassytha, Hypodaphnis and Neocinnamomum (Lauraceae) based on different analysis of trnK intron sequences. Ann Mo Bot Gard 92:153–178

    Google Scholar 

  • Rohwer JG, Moraes PLRD, Rudolph B, Werff HVD (2014) A phylogenetic analysis of the Cryptocarya group (Lauraceae) and relationship of Dahlgrenodendron, Sinoporo, Triadodaphne and Yasunia. Phytotaxa 158:111–132

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saldanha CJ (1996) Flora of Karnataka, vol 1. Oxford and IBH publishing Ltd, New Delhi

    Google Scholar 

  • Soltis DE, Soltis PS, Mort ME, Chase MW, Savolainen SB, Morton CM (1998) Inferring complex phylogenies using parsimony: an empirical approach using three large DNA data sets for angiosperms. Syst Biol 47:32–42

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Son DC, Park BK, Ko SC (2016) Phylogenetic study of the section Adonathe of genus Adonis (Ranunculaceae) based on ITS sequences. Korean J Pl Taxon 46:1–12

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang ZH, Li J, Conran JG, Li HW (2010) Phylogeny of the Southeast Asian endemic genus Neocinnamomum (Lauraceae). Plant Syst Evol 290:173–184

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White TJ, Bruns TD, Lee SB, Taylor JW (1990) Amplification and direct sequencing of ribosomal RNA genes and the internal transcribed spacer in fungi. In: Innis MA, Gelfand GH, Sninsky JJ, White TJ (eds) PCR—protocols and applications—a laboratory manual. Academics, San Diego, pp 315–322

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to Department of Science and Technology (DST), New Delhi, for providing INSPIRE fellowship (IF140097) to Srinivas S G, which provided financial support for the study. The authors thankful to National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), USA, for receiving our sequence data and providing GenBank accession numbers. The authors also acknowledges to Kuvempu University for providing infrastructural and administrative support and Karnataka forest department for according permission to enter the forests.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of P.G Studies and Research in Applied Botany, Kuvempu University, Jnanasahyadri, Shankaraghatta, Shivamogga, Karnataka, 577451, India

    Saraswathamma Gangadhara Srinivas & Yelugere Linganaik Krishnamurthy

  2. Centre for Ecological Sciences (CES), Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

    Subramanya Shravan Kumar

Authors
  1. Saraswathamma Gangadhara Srinivas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yelugere Linganaik Krishnamurthy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Subramanya Shravan Kumar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

All the authors have equally contributed towards this manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Saraswathamma Gangadhara Srinivas.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

Authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Srinivas, S.G., Krishnamurthy, Y.L. & Kumar, S.S. Diversity, ecology and molecular phylogeny of genus Litsea (Lauraceae) in Central Western Ghat areas of India. Trop Ecol 62, 644–652 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42965-021-00168-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42965-021-00168-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation