Molecular Systematics of in the Eastern Himalayan Region of Northeast India

L.B. Singha, A.R. Barbhuiya, B.I. Choudhury, M.L. Khan and S. Dayanandan CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY INTRODUCTION  -Perennial woody grass  Family – ; Sub-family Bambusoideae  Culm - branches, leaves, distinct nodes and internvodes  Rhizome - below ground with adventitious roots  Fast growing species - growth up to 1.2 m/day

LEAF

BRANCH NODE INTERNODE CULM

RHIZOME A BAMBOO CLUMP ROOT IMPORTANCE OF BAMBOO WORLD-WIDE DISTRIBUTION & DIVERSITY OF BAMBOOS

Sea level to 4500 m; All continents except Europe & Antarctica Genera: 111, Species:1575 (UNEP-WCMC 2003) Classical Taxonomy of Bamboos o Munro (1868): 3 Divisions (21 genera) o Kurz (1876): Culm sheath o Gamble (1881): 4 subtribes (14 genera) o Bentham (1883): 4 subtribes (18 genera) o Stapf (1897): 5 subtribes (24 genera) o Hooker (1897): 4 subtribes (15 genera) o Camus (1913): 4 subtribes (21 genera) Recent bamboo classification Subtribe (10) Clayton and Soderstrom and Dransfield and Stapleton Li (1999) Renvoize (1986) Ellis (1987) Widjaja (1995) (1994, 1997) Arthrostylidiinae 11 genera, 13 genera, 13 genera, 13 genera, NWT NWT NW NW Arundinariinae 20 genera, 12 genera, 14 genera, 19 genera, 14 genera, PT OW OW OW OW 25 genera, 6 genera, 13 genera, 11 genera, 9 genera, PT OWT OWT OW OWT Chusqueinae 1 genus, 2 genera, 2 genera, 2 genera, NWT NWT NW NWT Guaduinae 5 genera, 5 genera, 5 genera, 5 genera, NWT NWT NWT NWT 4 genera, 7 genera, 8 genera, 10 genera, 9 genera, OWT OWT OW OW OWT Nastinae 4 genera, 6 genera, 6 genera, 6 genera, OWT +NWT OW OWT OW +NWT Neurolepidinae 1 genus, NWH Racemobambosinae 3 genera, 3genera 1genus, HIM OWT Shibataeinae 7 genera, 5 genera, 5 genera 7 genera, HIM OW OWT Unclear placement 5genera 3genera 1genus

Total 49 genera 59 genera 69 genera 77 genera 67 genera NW-New World ; NWT-New World Tropics ; NWH- New World High elevation ; OW-Old World; OWT-Old World Tropics ; PT- Pan Tropics ; HIM-Himalayas DISTRIBUTION & DIVERSITY OF BAMBOOS IN INDIA

Phytogeographical Genera Species zones Western Himalaya, Eastern Himalaya 16 90 Peninsular India including Western 6 35 Ghats Andaman & Nicobar islands 4 7 • Endemic bamboo species: 21

S. arunachalensis A. griffithiana A.maling • Rare & endangered: 23

A. densifolia A. walkeriana O. beddomei PROBLEMS  Incongruencies between existing Phylogeny and Classification of many bamboo species Limited availability of reprod uctive structures (flowering time 7-120 years) Morphological plasticity Morphologically intermediate traits OBJECTIVES Reconstruct the Phylogeny of bamboos in the Eastern Himalayas using molecular markers Assess the congruency between molecular phylogeny and classical systematics of Bamboos in the Eastern Himalayas MATERIALS AND METHODS 25 bamboo species belonging to 11 genera PCR amplification and sequencing of psbA-trnH inter genic region of the cpDNA and ITS2 of nrDNA

Sequence Alignment: Geneious, ClustalW Data analyses: MacClade/ PAUP RESULTS

Parameters psbA-trnH (cpDNA) ITS2 (nrDNA)

Total characters 590 455 (nucleotides) Parsimony informative 38 48 characters(nucleotides) Equally parsimonious trees 137 211 Bambusinae Bambusinae

Racemobabosinae Racemobabosinae

Melocanninae Melocanninae

Shibataeinae Shibataeinae + + Arundinariinae Arundinariinae

Outgroup Outgroup

psbA-trnH ITS2

Majority rule consensus trees based on cpDNA and nrDNA sequences Bambusinae Bambusinae

Racemobabosinae Racemobabosinae Melocanninae Melocanninae

Shibataeinae Shibataeinae + + Arundinariinae Arundinariinae

Outgroup Outgroup psbA-trnH ITS2

Strict consensus trees based on cpDNA and nrDNA sequences DISCUSSION

 Both cpDNA & nrDNA provided identical phylogeny of bamboos in Eastern Himalayan region  Placement of the Tropical bamboo genera under 3 Subtribes is consistent with recent bamboo taxonomy  Subtribe Arundinariinae and Shibataeinae is closely related and incongruent (Triplett & Clark, 2010) DISCUSSION

 , and are polyphyletic suggesting parallel evolution (Xia, 1994; Mukherjee et al. 2010)  Placement of Pseudosasa and under Bambusinae is inconsistent with existing classifications and needs detail study considering large populations  Close phylogenetic relationship of B. arundinacea - a giant bamboo and B. variegata - a shrubby bamboo needs in depth molecular study CONCLUSION

Phylogenetic relationships among the major bamboo genera of Eastern Himalayan region of India Species delimitation up to subtribes Further studies:  Include remaining bamboo species & considering more nuclear & chloroplast marker  Complete Phylogeny reconstruction for the bamboos in the Eastern Himalayas may contribute ideas of bamboo evolution on global perspective ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS • Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of INDIA is duly acknowledged for financial assistance

• CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY is duly acknowledged for providing laboratory facilities to conduct the study THANK YOU