Phylogenomics of ultraconserved elements in chloroplast genomes Fabaceae as a case study

Abstract

In the last decade, genomic regions that are highly conserved between two or more taxa, termed ultraconserved elements, have been characterized. The flanking regions of these provide variability that may allow their use as molecular markers. This approach has been seldom explored in plants and the present study aims to identify ultraconserved elements
and flanking regions that might be useful in phylogenomic analyses. Fabaceae (legumes) were selected as a case study and 642 genomes were processed by means of a bioinformatics workflow that allowed the localization and extraction of ultraconserved regions as well as flanking regions. Forty-six ultraconserved elements were identified, which together comprise 17 % of the reference genome. Thirty-one genes associated with these regions and 18 flanking regions of interest were characterized. Of the 18 flanking regions, one has potential for use as a marker in groups of the family Fabaceae.