RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 <em>Chloroplast Genome Sequencing and Comparative Analysis for Fine Fescue (Festuca</em> L., Poaceae) <em>Turfgrasses</em>
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 708149
DO 10.1101/708149
A1 Yinjie Qiu
A1 Cory D. Hirsch
A1 Ya Yang
A1 Eric Watkins
YR 2019
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/07/31/708149.abstract
AB Fine fescues (Festuca L., Poaceae) are turfgrass species that perform well in low-input environments. Based on morphological characteristics, the most commonly-utilized fine fescues are divided into five taxa: three are subspecies within F. rubra L. and the remaining two are treated as species within the F. ovina L. complex. Morphologically, these five taxa are very similar, and both identification and classification of fine fescues remain challenging. In an effort to develop identification methods for fescues, we used flow cytometry to estimate genome size, and sequenced the chloroplast genome of all five taxa. Fine fescue chloroplast genome sizes ranged from 133,331 to 133,842 bp and contained 113 to 114 genes. Phylogenetic reconstruction using whole chloroplast genome sequences agreed with previous work based on morphology. Comparative genomics suggested unique repeat signatures for each fine fescue taxon that could potentially be used for marker development for taxon identification.