The internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) is a widely used phylogenetic marker. In the past, it has mainly been used for species level classifications. Nowadays, a wider applicability becomes apparent. Here, the conserved structure of the RNA molecule plays a vital role. We have developed the ITS2 Database (http://its2.bioapps.biozentrum.uni-wuerzburg.de) which holds information about sequence, ...

Compensatory base changes (CBCs) in internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) rDNA secondary structures correlate with Ernst Mayr's biological species concept. This hypothesis also referred to as the CBC species concept recently was subjected to large-scale testing, indicating two distinct probabilities. (1) If there is a CBC then there are two different species with a probability of ∼0.93. (2) If t...

Oligonucleotide microarray based on ITS2 rDNA sequences would be extremely useful in identifying fungi within soil samples. However ITS2 contains phylogenetic information and duplication of sequences among taxa make false positive detections likely unless a way could be found to identify taxon-specific portions of the ITS2 sequence a priori. Examination of component ITS2 sequences suggested one...

Acanthopanacis cortex has been used in clinical applications for a long time. Considering some historical and geographical factors, Acanthopanacis cortex is easily confused with other herbs in medicine markets, thereby causing potential safety issues. In this study, we used the internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) barcode to identify 69 samples belonging to six species, including Acanthopanacis...

Repeat sequences of approximately 100 base pairs in length were found in the rDNA ITS2 region of Anopheles barbirostris van der Wulp (Diptera: Culicidae) species A1, A2, A3, A4, and An. campestris-like in the An. barbirostris complex. Variation in the number of repeats was observed among the five sibling species. Specifically, 10 repeats were observed in A1, eight in A2, A4, and campestris-like...

In the present study, sequence and structural analysis of ITS2 region (the spacer segment between 5.8S and 28S rRNA of mature rRNA sequences) of 7 Culex species belonging to 5 different geographical locations was carried out. Alignment of the ITS2 sequence from the 7 species revealed 8 homologous domains. Four species namely C. vishnui, C. annulus, C. pipiens, C. quiquefasciatusshowed high sequ...

BACKGROUND Selaginellaceae is a family of nonseed plants with special evolutionary significance. Plants of the family Selaginellaceae are similarly shaped and easily confused, complicating identification via traditional methods. This study explored, for the first time, the use of the DNA barcode ITS2 to identify medicinal plants of the Selaginellaceae family. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS In...

BACKGROUND Chloroplast-encoded genes (matK and rbcL) have been formally proposed for use in DNA barcoding efforts targeting embryophytes. Extending such a protocol to chlorophytan green algae, though, is fraught with problems including non homology (matK) and heterogeneity that prevents the creation of a universal PCR toolkit (rbcL). Some have advocated the use of the nuclear-encoded, internal ...

An ideal DNA barcoding region should be short enough to be amplified from degraded DNA. In this paper, we discuss the possibility of using a short nuclear DNA sequence as a barcode to identify a wide range of medicinal plant species. First, the PCR and sequencing success rates of ITS and ITS2 were evaluated based entirely on materials from dry medicinal product and herbarium voucher specimens, ...

Pneumocystis carinii f. sp. hominis isolates from 207 clinical specimens from nine countries were typed based on nucleotide sequence variations in the internal transcribed spacer regions I and II (ITS1 and ITS2, respectively) of rRNA genes. The number of ITS1 nucleotides has been revised from the previously reported 157 bp to 161 bp. Likewise, the number of ITS2 nucleotides has been changed fro...