Phylogenetic Study of Cantigi Ungu (Vaccinium varingifolium) Based on Universal Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITSu) DNA Barcoding

Abstract

Cantigi Ungu (Vaccinium varingifolium) is a Javanese endemic plant found in mountainous area. In Java Island, it has various local names, i.e Cantigi Ungu, Mentigi, Manis Rejo, and Delima Manda. This plant is usually found at an altitude of from 1800 until 2000m above sea level. There have not been many reports of genetic data regarding this plant. Genetic conservation is needed to determine the conservation status to maintain the sustainability, availability, and existence of germplasm this plant can be known. Thus, in therms to the conservation of this plant, in this research, using 3 individual of Vaccinium varingifolium from a different place is compared based on ITS ITS gene sequences. ITS gene amplification was performed using Forward primer ITS_u1 5’-GGA AGK ARA AGT CGT AAC AAG G-3 and Reverse primer ITS_u4 5’-RGT TTC TTT TCC TCT GCT TA-‘3. The phylogenetic analysis using MEGA X with Maximum Likelihood (ML), Minimum Evolution (ME), Neighbor Joining (NJ), and Maximum Parsimony (MP) methods shows that the samples this study is the same species with Vaccinium varingifolium.