Identification of wild banana family (Musaceae) using molecular markers / Norfazlina Baharuddin

Musaceae is a small family with two genera under the order of Zingiberales. In Malaysia, its taxonomic status is still debating due to conflict against scientific names given by various authors in the past. In this study, we performed phylogenetic analysis of 34 accessions from Peninsular Malaysia and five accessions from Indonesia. Here, I present an updated Musa taxa phylogeny focusing on six plastid regions (matK, rps16, rpl16, psbA-trnH, trnL-trnH, atpB-rbcL) and one nrDNA marker (ITS) under Maximum Likelihood (ML), Maximum Parsiomony (MP) and Bayesian. Based on MP, ML and Bayesian analysis in chloroplast and ITS markers, Musa taxa in Peninsular Malaysia corresponded well to the two sections in Musaceae. Musa taxa that have been linked to subspecies acuminata previously resolved as monophyletic in one large clade with strong bootstrap support (BS>88) and high posterior probability (pp =100%). The scope of this analysis also provides a much wider view for future research on Musa systematics, ecology, biogeography and other evolutionary studies.