DNA MARKERS BARCODE IDENTIFICATION OF SOME VENUS ORCHID SPECIES WITH CLOSE RELATIONSHIP AND MORPHOLOGICAL SIMILARITIES

Abstract

Paphiopedilum is a genus in the subfamily Cypripedioideae with the highest diversity and division, divided into many subgenus and sections. Species in these sections are very closely related to each other, especially having morphological similarities. Currently, several approaches have been applied in determining taxonomy, from morphological-based techniques to classification by molecular markers or a combination of methods, in which DNA barcode presents many advantages. Four species in this study include Paphiopedilum henryanum, Paphiopedilum coccinaum, Paphiopedilum helenae and Paphiopedilum × hermannii belong to the standard section (Paphiopedilum) of the subgenus Paphiopedilum, which are highly similar morphological characteristics. This paper presents the results of plant morphological analysis of these species of venus orchid to analyze two DNA barcode sequences ITS and trnH-psbA to identify them. Our results indicated that morphological characteristics can be used to identify Comedy species in the study. The results of DNA barcode analysis of two ITS and trnH-psbA markers showed that they were suitable for studying the taxonomy of venus orchids, but they were not suitable for identifying each species except for the hybrid species Paphiopedilum × hermannii.