Plastome phylogenomics of the diverse neotropical orchid genus Lepanthes with emphasis on subgenus Marsipanthes (Pleurothallidinae: Orchidaceae).

ABSTRACT: Well-resolved phylogenetic relationships within the diverse Neotropical orchid genus Lepanthes are presented based on a genome skimming approach that yielded nine newly sequenced chloroplast genomes. We complemented this with 17-86 plastome coding genes for 26 species retrieved from GenBank, alongside amplified matK and rITS regions. The Lepanthes plastomes (157,185-158,260 bp, 37.15% GC content) contained 136 annotated genes, including 86 protein-coding, 42 tRNA, and 8 rRNA genes. We identified six hypervariable regions, including parts of the ycf1 gene, as potential DNA barcodes. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that Carl Luer's subgeneric classifications are non-monophyletic, a finding confirmed by PCA of continuous morphological traits, reflecting significant morphological homoplasy. Six

SUBMITTER: Arias T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12329981 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature