Analyzing Phylogeography and Phylogeny of Commicarpus (Nyctaginaceae) Through ITS and Chloroplast Regions

Science Center, Bent Corridor

The genus Commicarpus is a member of the Nyctaginaceae family (commonly known as the “four o’clock” family). The goal of this summer was to sequence regions of species of the Commicarpus genus; one of the reasons for sequencing is to get a better understanding of the species’ relation to one another and to other, similar species. Commicarpus is a genus of plant that is spread throughout tropical and subtropical climates all around the world, mostly in the Middle and Southern Hemispheres. This opens up several other questions, such as why this distribution is so broad, where did the genus originate, and how many times and which ways did the genus migrate? In terms of the larger picture, the Moore Lab is interested in looking at and better understanding the origin of the only gypsum endemic species of Commicarpus, Commicarpus reniformis, and how it relates to other gypsum endemics. This is part of lab’s interest in gypsum endemism and questions around it. We extracted the DNA through CTAB isolation technique and sequenced the following regions: ITS (nuclear), matK, ndh, ndhF_rpl32, rpl32_trnL, ycf1 (4100-5500 region), and ycf1 (5500-6700 region) (chloroplast).