DNA barcodes in Fig cultivars (Ficus carica L.) using ITS regions of ribosomal DNA, the psbA-trnH spacer and the matK coding sequence

Molecular markers provide a useful method for genotype characterization and allow a high preci-sion determination of the genetic relationship between cultivars and varieties. A system based onDNA sequences—which is known as DNA barcoding—will choose one or several standard lociwhich can be sequenced and compared to differentiate between species. In this research, the ITS,matK, and trnH-psbA sequences were evaluated for the molecular identification of seven F. caricagenotypes, generating complete sequences for the first two loci, but unable to produce bidirec-tional sequences by using the trnH-psbA sequence. The ITS sequence presented the highest varia-tion rates, while the phylogeny constructed with the matK sequence obtained the highest percen-tage of solved monophyletic groups. Through Pearson’s correlation analysis, it was possible to de-termine the existence of a significant correlation between the ITS region and psbA-trnH, and thematK and psbA-trnH sequences, but not between ITS and matK. The phylogenies constructed withthe ITS + matK barcodes and ITS + matK + psbA-trnH presented the highest percentage for resolu-tion. However, considering the cost efficiency and the facilitated recovery by using PCR, the matK +ITS combination is recommended