Molecular phylogeny of Ruppia maritima L. from Chilika Lake, Odhisa using nuclear and plastid genes

Aim: The present study aims to confirm the molecular identification of Ruppia maritima L. from Chilika Lake, Odhisa using different molecular markers and find out the evolutionary lineage of Ruppia species. Methodology: For molecular identification, R. maritima was collected from Chilika Lake and the rbcL, matK, and ITS gene sequences were investigated and analyzed using BLAST to verify the gene fragment. Phylogenetic tree was constructed using MEGA X software following Neighbor joining (NJ) and Maximum parsimony (MP) methods. Results: The nucleotide (ITS) and plastid gene (rbcL and matK) sequences of Ruppia maritima were examined. The tree topology of R. maritima rbcL and matK gene sequences revealed a paraphyletic cluster at 99 and 100% bootstrap. The conserved region was high in matK (74.8%), followed by rbcL (45.2%) and ITS (19.1%) with seagrass and freshwater species. ITS had the most significant proportion of variable sites (79.7%), followed by rbcL (52.4%) and matK (25.2%). The ITS region showed less parsimonious-informative character (66.1) than rbcL and matK region. Interpretation: The study concludes that the R. maritima was identified through molecular markers, which was a closed lineage with seagrasses than freshwater species.