Short Communication: Molecular barcode and morphology analysis of Malva pseudolavatera Webb & Berthel and Malva sylvestris L. from Ecuador

GLENDA SARMIENTO-TOMALÁ (Universidad de Guayaquil. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Ciudadela Universitaria “Salvador Allende”. Ave. Kennedy S/N y Av. Delta. Guayaquil. Ecuador)
Efrén Santos-Ordóñez (ESPOL Polytechnic University, Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral, ESPOL, Centro de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas del Ecuador, Campus Gustavo Galindo, Km. 30.5 vía Perimetral, P.O. Box 09-01-5863, Guayaquil, Ecuador)
MIGDALIA MIRANDA-MARTÍNEZ (ESPOL Polytechnic University, Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral, ESPOL, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Matemáticas. Departamento de Ciencias Químicas y Ambientales. Campus Gustavo Galindo. Km 30.5 vía Perimetral. Guayaquil. Ecuador)
RICARDO PACHECO-COELLO (ESPOL Polytechnic University, Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral, ESPOL, Centro de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas del Ecuador, Campus Gustavo Galindo, Km. 30.5 vía Perimetral, P.O. Box 09-01-5863, Guayaquil, Ecuador)
RAMÓN SCULL-LIZAMA (Instituto de Farmacia y Alimentos, Universidad de la Habana. 222 y Ave 23, La Coronela, La Lisa, Ciudad Habana, Cuba)
YAMILET GUTIÉRREZ-GAITÉN (Instituto de Farmacia y Alimentos, Universidad de la Habana. 222 y Ave 23, La Coronela, La Lisa, Ciudad Habana, Cuba)
RENÉ RENÉ DELGADO-HERNÁNDEZ (Instituto de Farmacia y Alimentos, Universidad de la Habana. 222 y Ave 23, La Coronela, La Lisa, Ciudad Habana, Cuba)

Biodiversitas Journal of Biological Diversity
Vol. 21 No. 8 (2020)

Abstract. Sarmiento-Tomalá G, Santos-Ordóñez E, Miranda-Martínez M, Pacheco-Coello R, Scull-Lizama R, Gutiérrez-Gaitén Y, Delgado-Hernández R. 2020. Short Communication: Molecular barcode and morphology analysis of Malva pseudolavatera Webb & Berthel and Malva sylvestris L from Ecuador. Biodiversitas 21: 3554-3560. In Ecuador, several plant species are used in traditional medicine without a criterion of family, genera, or chemical composition. The species of the genus Malva (Malva pseudolavatera Webb & Berthel and Malva sylvestris L), introduced in Ecuador, are widely used by the population; however, unlike the species M. sylvestris, for M. pseudolavatera there is no information about its composition and properties. Plant material was collected in the province of Chimborazo in Ecuador and taxonomic classification was performed. Histological study was performed in leaves and powder drug. Molecular barcodes were generated using the ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase large chain (rbcL), maturase K (matK), internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) and ITS2 sequences. Micro-morphological analysis revealed that no major structural differences were observed between the two species. Sequence analysis of molecular barcodes revealed that samples of the different species showed a close relation to each other due to the high percentage of similarity. The ITS sequences showed that the two samples correspond to different species of Malva; while for the rbcL and matK, interspecies differentiation could not be detected. Therefore, ITS could be used for interspecific analysis.