AUTHOR=Rabelo-Araujo João Victor Da Silva , Francisconi Ana Flávia , Garcia Caroline Bertocco , Van Den Berg Cássio , Ribeiro Otavio Batista de Castro , Marques Ana Paula da Silva , Scaketti Matheus , Anastacio Ana Cristina Silva Amoroso , Zucchi Maria Imaculada 

TITLE=Phylogeny, structural patterns, and polymorphisms in Dyckia spp. from the Espinhaço mountain range based on complete chloroplast genome

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=Volume 16 - 2025

YEAR=2025

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2025.1549351

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2025.1549351

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=Dyckia spp. are xeromorphic bromeliads, with diversity centered in the ferruginous rocky outcrops of the Espinhaço mountain Range in Brazilian tropical savana. Due to their recent radiation – during the Pliocene – along with their vast phenotypic plasticity and the limited herbarium records, many species in the genus present challenges for correct identification and the development of robust conservation strategies. We sequenced the complete chloroplast genome of six rare Dyckia species in an effort to identify hotspots of diversity that could serve as molecular markers capable of distinguishing species and elucidating phylogenetic relationships within the genus. The plastome sizes of the species ranged from 159,689 bp to 159,264 bp, and the GC content was highly consistent across all species, varying narrowly between 37.2% to 37.3%. Despite the high structural similarity, polymorphism analyses identified three regions of high polymorphic diversity—the clpP1 and psa1 genes, and the intergenic spacer region between trnT and the trnL — that may serve as molecular markers within the genus. Additionally, we detected a high number of SSRs (637), dispersed repeats (208), SNPs (1035), and indels (823) among the species compared to other bromeliads. Phylogenetic analyses using whole plastid genomes showed low variability among species, associating them with their geographic distribution. These results not only highlight the structural variability of the Dyckia plastid genome but also provide new molecular tools for the identification of related species, enhancing the development of conservation protocols for these bromeliads.