Abstract:

To provide evidence for molecular identification and genetic diversity studies, sequencing and analysis of ITS from Carpinus tientaiensis, C. londoniana, C. polyneura and C. viminea were performed. ITS sequences were amplified from leaf DNA of four Carpinus plants by PCR. Sequence were compared and analyzed using ClustalX, EXCEL and MEGA softwares. Seven Carpinus ITS sequences were downloaded from NCBI database for evolution analysis. Sequence analysis results revealed that these four ITSs were 600-602 bp in length with 26 variable sites. Some sites showed prominent species characteristics and could be used for specific DNA fingerprint identification. Evolution analysis results indicated that the genetic distance among 11 Carpinus plants were 0.0048-0.0681， confirming their interspecific relationship. The four Carpinus plants collected from Mount Tiantai belonged to 3 different clades, one for C. polyneura, C. kawakamii and C. monbeigiana, another for C. tientaiensis, C. betulus and C. hupeana, and the other for C. londoniana C. viminea and C. caroliniana.

Key words: Carpinus, ITS sequence, sequence analysis, molecular identification