PRIMERS FOR CASTILLEJA AND THEIR UTILITY ACROSS OROBANCHACEAE: I. CHLOROPLAST PRIMERS

Premise of the study: Chloroplast primers were developed from genomic data for the taxonomically challenging genus Castilleja. We further tested the broader utility of these primers across Orobanchaceae, identifying a core set of chloroplast primers amplifying across the clade. Methods and Results: Using a combination of three low-coverage Castilleja genomes and sequence data from 12 Castilleja plastomes, 76 primer combinations were specifically designed and tested for Castilleja. The primers targeted the most variable portions of the plastome and were validated for their applicability across the clade. Of these, 38 primer combinations were subsequently evaluated in silico and then validated across other major clades in Orobanchaceae. Conclusions: These results demonstrate the utility of these primers, not only across Castilleja, but for other clades in Orobanchace-eparticularly hemiparasitic lineages-and will contribute to future phylogenetic studies of this important clade of parasitic plants.