RETRACTED ARTICLE: Genetic characterization of selected species of family Solanaceae based on chloroplast rps14 gene

The family Solanaceae is cosmopolitan, comprising of almost 90 genera and 3000 to 4000 species across the world whereas Pakistan is hosting 14 genera and 50 species. Solanaceae is one of the most economically and environmentally significant plant families, with crops such as potatoes, tomatoes, and peppers. Despite their importance, the genetic diversity and evolutionary links of Solanaceae are understudied. A key group in plant evolution and diversification. Despite its significance, genetic diversity within this family is understudied. In the present study rps14 gene from 20 selected species belonging to nine genera of family Solanaceae was amplified, sequenced and analyzed for the elucidation of phylogenetic relationship. The sequence data was analyzed using MEGA7, I-TASSER and SAVES. The dendrogram revealed evolutionary distance of 0.05 with mean genetic distance of 0.04 among the selected species depicted closed relationship. Moreover, value of genetic diversity was found to be in the range of 0.007 to 0.086. Capsicum annuum and Capsicum frutescens has shown lowest whereas Cestrum diurnum and Solanum lycopersicum showed highest divergence value. 3D protein structure for rps14 of 20 species predicted by I-TASSER having highest C-score were selected for furthermore analysis using Ramachandran plots. 3D protein models depicted that rps14 protein from Solanum nigrum, Solanum lycopersicum, Nicotiana tabacum, Solanum virginianum, Capsicum annuum, Capsicum frutescens, Cestrum diurnum, Datura inoxia, Physalis minima and Withania coagulens have the best quality structure with less than ≥ 2.0% residues in outlier region and can be used furthermore for the application of different bioinformatics tool. In future, additional DNA markers should be used for resolving the complex evolutionary and taxonomic relationship of Solanaceae along with morphological and anatomical characterization. The research is not enough to stand alone to validate the viability of the rps14 gene as a prospective contender for phylogenetic analysis. İn future we will focus on the maximum genetic diversity theory for phylogenetic analysis of this family.