Genetic Variation and DNA Barcoding of the Endangered
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DOI: 10.5152/forestist.2020.20009 2020, 70(2): 85-94 Original Article Genetic variation and DNA barcoding of the endangered agarwood-producing Aquilaria beccariana (Thymelaeaceae) populations from the Malesia Region Malezya Bölgesinde nesli tükenmekte olan Aquilaria beccariana (Thymelaeaceae) popülasyonlarının genetik varyasyonu ve DNA barkodu Yu Cong Pern , Shiou Yih Lee , Norizah Kamarudin , Rozi Mohamed Department of Forest Management, Faculty of Forestry, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia ABSTRACT The endangered agarwood-producing Aquilaria beccariana is reportedly secluded in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula (MPen) and more dispersed in the northern and central regions of the Borneo Island (Bor). The two are geographically separated by the South China Sea. Fresh leaf samples from 47 individuals were collected from six natural populations, including Mersing (MERS) of MPen; Upper Baram (BARA1), Marudi (BARA2), and Lawas (LAWA) of Sarawak; Tongod (TONG) of Sabah, and Kalimantan (KALI) of Indonesia, to study their phylogenetic relationship. Seven non-coding chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) regions and the nuclear internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region were amplified and sequenced using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Several closely related Aquilaria species were included to demonstrate the molecular position of A. beccariana. Phy- logenetic analysis, median-joining (MJ) network, and principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) assembled the six populations into two major clusters, MPen and Bor, when using the combined cpDNA dataset, whereas the Bor populations were further clustered into northern and central populations. DNA barcoding analysis using the combined trnL–trnF+ITS2 loci of 12 Aquilaria species revealed that species discrimination is possible for A. beccariana at both species and population levels. In conclusion, this work provides useful genetic information that may help in the management and conservation of agarwood resources. Keywords: Chloroplast DNA, conservation genetics, gene fragment region Cite this paper as: ÖZ Pern, Y.C., Lee, S.Y., Kamarudin, N., Mohamed, Nesli tükenmekte olan Aquilaria beccariana'nın Malay Yarımadası'nda (MPen) güney bölgesinde az rast- R., 2020. Genetic variation landığı ve Borneo Adası'nın (Bor) kuzey ve merkezi bölgelerinde de daha dağınık olarak bulunduğu bildiril- and DNA barcoding mektedir. Güney Çin Denizi, coğrafi olarak ikiye ayrılmış bulunmaktadır. Filogenetik ilişkilerin incelenmesi için, altı doğal popülasyonda 47 bireyden yaprak örnekleri alınmıştır, bu gruplar Saravak'ın Yukarı Baram of the endangered (BARA1), Marudi (BARA2) ve Lawas (LAWA); Sabah'dan Tongod (TONG) ve Endonezya'dan Kalimantan agarwood-producing (KALI)’dır. Yedi kodlayıcı olmayan kloroplast DNA (cpDNA) bölgesi ve nükleer dahili kopyalanmış aralayıcı Aquilaria beccariana (ITS) bölgesi, polimeraz zincir reaksiyonu (PCR) kullanılarak güçlendirilmiş ve sıralanmıştır. A. beccariana'nın (Thymelaeaceae) moleküler pozisyonunu göstermek için yakından ilişkili birkaç Aquilaria türü çalışmaya dahil edilmiştir. populations from the Filogenetik analiz, medyan birleştirme (MJ) ağı ve ana koordinat analizi (PCoA) altı popülasyonu iki ana Malesia Region. Forestist kümede (MPen ve Bor) birleştirilmiştir, kombine cpDNA veri setini kullanılarak Bor popülasyonları ayrıca 70(2): 85-94. kuzey ve merkezi popülasyonlara kümelenmiştir. 12 Aquilaria türünün birleşik trnL – trnF + ITS2 lokusları kullanılarak yapılan DNA barkod analizi, hem tür hem de popülasyon düzeyinde A. beccariana için türleri Corresponding author: ayırt etmenin mümkün olduğunu ortaya koymuştur. Sonuç olarak, bu çalışma Aquilaria beccariana kaynak- Rozi Mohamed larının yönetimi ve korunmasında yardımcı olabilecek yararlı genetik bilgiler sağlamaktadır. e-mail: [email protected] Anahtar Kelimeler: Kloroplast DNA, koruma genetiği, gen parçalanma bölgesi Received Date: 12.03.2020 INTRODUCTION Accepted Date: 23.04.2020 Aquilaria (Thymelaeaceae), a tropical tree genus comprising 21 species, is widely distributed in the Available Online Date: 14.05.2020 Indo-Malesian region (Lee and Mohamed, 2016a). Aquilaria species are generally known for their abil- Content of this journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution- ity to produce the highly valued fragrant resin, agarwood, which is extensively used as a raw ingre- NonCommercial 4.0 International Licence. dient in perfumes, incense, and traditional medicine. Agarwood is traded in several assortments and 85 Pern et al. Genetic variation in A. beccariana 2020, 70(2): 85-94 derivatives, such as wood pieces, wood chips, powder, and most using sequence-characterized amplified region markers (Roslan importantly, essential oil (TRAFFIC East Asia-Taipei and TRAFFIC et al., 2017) and the barcode DNA-high resolution melting (Bar- Southeast Asia, 2005; Mohamed and Lee, 2016). The market value HRM) technique (Lee et al., 2019), but not the sequence-based of agarwood products is determined by the agarwood grading DNA barcoding technique. The latter is useful for species dis- system, which is collectively dependent upon fragrance strength crimination because agarwood is commonly traded in wood or and longevity, resin content, geographic origin, and purity (Mo- product forms, whereas Aquilaria species identification is nor- hamed and Lee, 2016). However, scarcity of agarwood natural mally facilitated by its flower and fruit (Tawan, 2004; Lee et al., resources became intensified due to critical standard evaluation 2016a). CITES has suggested improvements in the identification and increasingly demanding market, yielding a reduced supply in method for effective control of international agarwood trade agarwood (Azren et al., 2019; Jensen and Meilby, 2008). The genus (Barden, et al. 2000). Conventional identification methods, such Aquilaria is presently listed under Appendix II of the Convention as through wood anatomy, unfortunately have not identified on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) over scruti- agarwood at the species level (Gasson, 2011), whereas the pres- nized international trades (UNEP-WCMC, 2019). ence of counterfeits with similar wood anatomy features and texture to the Aquilaria spp. has made agarwood identification a Studies on A. beccariana are relatively more limited compared challenging task (Yin et al., 2016). Therefore, using effective mo- with researches on its close relative Aquilaria malaccensis. The lecular markers, such as from DNA barcoding techniques, could species is generally found in the Malesia region. Its natural pop- provide a rapid, accurate, and automatable agarwood species ulations in Malaysia are isolated in the southern region of the identification method at the species level (Hebert and Grego- Malay Peninsula, although it is more widely spread in Borneo ry, 2005). On another note, further investigation on their intra- Island (Faridah-Hanum et al., 2009). Aquilaria beccariana was specific genetic diversity can provide supporting information first discovered in Sarawak in 1893 by Odoardo Beccari, an Ital- toward promoting its genetic conservation. ian botanist, resulting in the epithet name “beccariana” (Tawan, 2004). Official herbarium records of the species were last report- Natural populations of A. beccariana are confined to limited ar- ed in 1971 in Mersing, Johor; 1992 in Sabah; and 2005 in Sarawak eas in the Malesia region, and information on their population (Faridah-Hanum et al. 2009). It is known to produce agarwood genetics is scant. In this study, we used sequence data for seven that is a livelihood source for the aboriginal people of Sarawak non-coding cpDNA regions (psbB-psbH, psbC-trnS, rps16-trnK, (Kanazawa, 2017). Several names are attributed to this species, trnL-trnF, rps16-trnQ, trnF-ndhJ, and trnL intron) and the internal such as gaharu tanduk (horned agarwood) or engkaras in Sar- transcribed spacer (ITS) region to estimate the level of intraspe- awak, whereas the Penan tribe identifies agarwood asgaharu cific variations of natural A. beccariana within and among the ba (mountain agarwood) (Dawend et al., 2005; Kanazawa, 2017). populations from the Malay Peninsula (MPen) and several parts Agarwood poachers were reported to be conducting destruc- of Borneo Island (Bor). In addition, we barcoded A. beccariana. tive harvesting, such as indiscriminate tree felling, in search of The addition of A. beccariana in the DNA barcoding database agarwood, although agarwood from natural A. beccariana pop- serves as a useful agarwood identification reference, specifically ulations are sustainably being harvested by aboriginal people as a tool in monitoring illegal agarwood trade and adulteration. (Kanazawa, 2008; Newton and Soehartono, 2001). Not all Aqui- laria trees in the wild produce agarwood (Barden et al., 2000). MATERIALS AND METHODS Agarwood formation involves a specific defense mechanism from the tree, protecting itself against pathogen infestation in Fresh leaf samples were collected from 47 individuals out of the its exposed tree stem wounds (Rasool and Mohamed, 2016). six differentA. beccariana natural populations. Among them, The regeneration rate of wild Aquilaria trees is low and inconsis- 12 individuals were from Mersing (MERS), Johor in the MPen; tent (Devi et al., 2019; Soehartono and Newton, 2001) due to the 12 individuals each were from both Upper Baram (BARA1) and over-exploitation of this species, and A. beccarriana population Marudi (BARA2), and six individuals were from Lawas (LAWA), is drastically declining over the years (Soehartono