Genetic Identification and Phylogeny of Clerodendrum Phlomidis Growing in Egypt Using Some DNA Barcodes

Clerodendrum is one of the Lamiaceae genera, which has significance in taxonomical position. Clerodendrum phlomidis is an important wild species in Egypt and plays a main role in ecological, biodiversity, and taxonomical approaches. In the current study, we conducted this research work to investigate the identification of C. phlomidis collected from the North Coastal region of Egypt using three DNA barcode sequences viz., rbcL, ITS, and rpoC1 genes. The investigation was conducted in the corporation between the Agric. Botany-Genetics Dept., Fac. of Agric, Al-Azhar Univ. and National Gene Bank (NGB), Agricultural Research Center (ARC), Egypt. Our findings revealed that accessions KF199889 (98.7%) and ON010669.1 (98.6%) were identical to the taxon of C. phlomidis by the ITS and rbcL sequences. On the other hand, the sequence of C. phlomidis revealed closer to the taxa of C. buchneri, C. cephalanthum, C. thomsoniae, and C. rotundifoliuma by ITS sequences, C. indicum, C. thomsoniae, C. longiflorum, C. infortunatum, C. floribundum, C. cephalanthum, C. buchneri, and C. splendens by rbcL, and C. japonicum, C. thomsoniae, C. cyrtophyllum, and C. trichotomum by rpoC1 sequences. It can be recommended that these partial sequences are accurate genes for identifying and verifying the species of Clerodendrum phlomidis.