Comparison of Amplification Ability of Mat-K and RbcL DNA Barcodes in the Identification of Wild Grasses of the Quetta Ecosystem

Abstract

DNA barcoding is an innovative method that utilizes a short-length DNA region registered as a DNA barcode for species investigation, by comparing the particular barcoding regions with the sequences already placed within the reference library. The study has been designed to decipher DNA barcode applications in the identification of wild grasses of the Quetta ecosystem. For this purpose, DNA extraction of multiple grass samples was performed using an inorganic CTAB DNA extraction protocol. All the samples were electrophoresed on 1% agarose gel and run for PCR analysis. Samples were undergone for amplification and sequencing of chloroplast DNA regions i.e., Mat-k and RbcL. The results showed that the RbcL and Mat-k have the potential as bar code markers. 7 samples showed positive results for the RbcL and only 4 were positive when Mat-k was used as the primer. Of these two primers, RbcL has more potential to be used as the barcode marker as it showed more positive results than the Mat-k. Using these markers, we identified the samples up to the generic level. All the samples were identified, and vouchers were marked and labeled by the seasoned taxonomist. In this study, we concluded that RbcL and Mat-k are the potential markers for barcodes in grasses and they resolved the grasses to the generic and species level. The finding of this study suggested that RbcL is an effective barcode at the generic level as compared to Mat-k.