Biochemical Identification of Some True Halophytes Using DNA Barcoding in the Egyptian Red Sea Coast

Al-Tahlawy, Mohammad A.; Allam, Mai A.; Matter, Mohamed A.; Atia, Mohamed A. M.; Shafee, Ezeldain; Rady, Mohamed R.; Sakr, Mahmoud M.; Hanna, Demiana H.

doi:10.21608/ejchem.2023.248183.8868

Biochemical Identification of Some True Halophytes Using DNA Barcoding in the Egyptian Red Sea Coast

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Plant Biotechnology Department, Biotechnology Research Institute, National Research Centre (NRC), Giza, Egypt.

² Plant Biotechnology Department, Biotechnology Research Institute, National Research Centre (NRC), Giza , Egypt

³ Plant Biotechnology Department, Biotechnology Research Institute, National Research Centre (NRC), Dokki, Giza 12622, Egypt.

⁴ Molecular Genetics and Genome Mapping Laboratory, Genome Mapping Department, Agricultural Genetic Engineering Research Institute (AGERI), Agriculture Research Center (ARC), Giza, Egypt.

⁵ Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Giza 12613, Egypt.

⁶ President of the Egyptian Academy of scientific research and technology (ASRT) National research centre

10.21608/ejchem.2023.248183.8868

Abstract

Halophytes are a group of plants that thrive in high salinity. These plants are overused and endangered due to a combination of environmental factors and human behaviors. One of the ways to preserve the biological diversity of local plants is through their clear documentation to preserve the intellectual property rights of countries. Biochemical characterization using DNA barcoding is a relatively new species identification and authentication method using a short section of DNA from a specific gene or genes. In this study, ten halophytic plant species were collected from their different growth habitats along the Red Sea coast of Egypt. Then two standard chloroplast DNA loci (matK & rbcL) were used as DNA barcoding markers to document the collected species. They were successfully amplified and sequenced; the resulting barcode sequences have been deposited to the GenBank database. The sequence similarity (BLAST analysis) and the phylogenetic-based methods showed that the rbcL barcode has a high universality among the different tested taxa, whereas matK offers slightly low universality. In this context, we found that using the previously proposed barcode of rbcL alone may be difficult to differentiate between the closely related species (Tetraena alba and Tetraena coccinea). Two partial Coding Sequences (CDs) of the matK gene from Atriplex farinosa and Tetraena alba were deposited for the first time into the GenBank database (accession numbers OM164029 and OM16403, respectively). This finding is noteworthy as it represents a previously unreported addition to the available genetic information for these two plant species.

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