Genetic relationship of Ougeinia oojeinensis (Roxb.) Hochr., a threatened endemic species, based on cpDNA rbcL regions

The cosmopolitan genus Desmodium incorporates numerous significant species with medicinal and fodder usage. The genus Ougeinia forms sister group with the Desmodium clade with low support, of which maximum genera of Desmodieae framed an unresolved and poorly supported clade. In addition, its phylogenetic placement is still uncertain. In this connection, the present study has been planned to assess its genetic relationship with other Desomodium species. Thirty-eight Desmodium species were explored utilizing non-coding rbcL barcode regions in chloroplastic genome. A sequence length of 650 bp with an average 43.30% G+C content was successfully amplified with the rbcL1F and rbcL724R genes. Nucleotide diversity ? and ? were found as 0.682 and 0.238respectively; while haplotype/gene diversity (Hd) was 0.994 which showed high level of genetic variations among the species belong to this genera. Pairwise difference comparison revealed that geographically common species share more similarity. Ougeinia oujeinensis showed high similarity with Tadehagi triquetrum based on nucleotide homology and phylogenetic analysis. Although, the phylogenetic study showed that the biogeographic circulation of species doesn't exhibit any affiliation inferring species localization. But this barcode gene study would have value for correct identification of O. oojeinensis and its genetic relationship with other Desmodium species.