Ficus benghalensis Linnaeus (Moraceae) is the national tree of India and is well known for its pharmacolo-gical properties. The present study was aimed to determine the genetic diversity of F. benghalensis from the Indian subcontinent using sequence-based multi-locus phylogeography. A total of 20 geograph-ical isolates were collected from different regions, cov-ering major parts of its species range within the country. Sequence data from nuclear-encoded internal transcribed spacer region (ITS1), plastid-encoded trnL-F spacer region (trnL) and ribosomal intron re-gion (rps16) were generated. The trnL-based maxi-mum likelihood phylogram revealed the existence of two haplotypes, whereas ITS1 and rps16-based maxi-mum likelihood analysis did not reveal much variation for this species distributed in the Indian subcontinent. These results depict long-distance random gene flow across the subcontinent, and support the post-glacial population contraction events. To validate the impact of palaeo-historic climatic events on current geo-graphic and genetic distribution, species distribution modelling-coupled phylogeography is suggested.
Keywords
Banyan, Genetic Heterogeneity, Haplotypes, Maximum Likelihood, Phylogeography.
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