Casey Simzer (she/her/hers)
PaCon Researcher / INBRE Research Associate
Leeward Community College, University of Hawaii
Pearl City, Hawaii, United States
Mike Ross
Assistant Professor, Botany
Kapi’olani Community College
Honolulu, Hawaii, United States
Kabi Neupane
Professor, Biology
Leeward Community College
Pearl City, Hawaii, United States
Helmut Kae
Professor, Microbiology
Leeward Community College
Pearl City, Hawaii, United States
Hongwei Li
Associate Professor, Microbiology and Botany
Windward Community College
Kaneohe, Hawaii, United States
Atriplex is a large genus with approximately 260 species distributed worldwide. In Hawai'i, there are seven naturalized species, three of which occur on O'ahu. The objective of this study was to determine whether hybridization may be naturally occurring in Oahu’s overlapping A. muelleri and A. suberecta populations using molecular techniques. Atriplex specimens were vouchered and leaf tissue samples collected from three coastal locations. Genomic DNA was isolated from silica gel dried leaf tissue. Two loci: the ITS region of 18S rRNA gene and trnL-F chloroplast gene were amplified using primer pairs AC-ITS5 and ITS4, and trnTAC2 and trnTf, respectively. At this time, the preliminary data substantiates that three of the four specimens collected to be hybrids of A. muelleri x A. suberecta. Understanding the role hybridization plays in Atriplex species on O'ahu is important to assessing risks for hybrid vigor and or the potential for adverse effects on Hawaii's native biodiversity due to these invasive C4 plants. This project was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE), Award number: P20GM103466. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.