Molecular evidence for the phylogenetic position of Takhtajania in the Winteraceae: Inference from nuclear ribosomal and chloroplast gene spacer sequences

The nucleotide sequences of the internal transcribed spacers (ITS 1 and ITS 2) and 5.8S coding region of nuclear ribosomal DNA, as well as the non-cod ing trnL-trnF spacer regions of the chloroplast DNA, were determined and an alyzed to estimate the phylogenetic position of Takhtajania perrieri (Capur on) Baranova & J.-F. Leroy within the Winteraceae. Using representatives of each genus of Canellaceae as outgroups (Canella, Capsicodendron, Cinnamode ndron, Cinnamosma, Pleodendron, and Warburgia), bath maximum parsimony and maximum likelihood analyses place Takhtajania in a basal position sister to the remainder of the Winteraceae. Although the overall topology within the Winteraceae was mostly congruent between nuclear and chloroplast data sets , the trnL-trnF data resulted in lower support values in comparison to the ITS data, and failed to resolve basal relationships in the family, yielding alternative equally parsimonious solutions. The combined nuclear/chloropla st data set resulted in a single tree identical to that generated by nuclea r data alone, but demonstrated strengthened support for a basal branch lend ing to Takhtajania, as well as for the position of Tasmannia as the next br anch within the family. Potentially conflicting signals from nuclear and ch loroplast data indicate that further taxon sampling or additional sequence data may be required to infer infra-familial phylogenetic relationships for Canellaceae.