Molecular phylogeny and systematics of the banana family (Musaceae) inferred from multiple nuclear and chloroplast DNA fragments, with a special reference to the genus Musa.

Musaceae is a small paleotropical family. Three genera have been recognised within this family although the generic delimitations remain controversial. Most species of the family (around 65 species) have been placed under the genus Musa and its infrageneric classification has long been disputed. In this study, we obtained nuclear ribosomal ITS and chloroplast (atpB-rbcL, rps16, and trnL-F) DNA sequences of 36 species (42 accessions of ingroups representing three genera) together with 10 accessions of ingroups retrieved from GenBank database and 4 accessions of outgroups, to construct the phylogeny of the family, with a special reference to the infrageneric classification of the genus Musa. Our phylogenetic analyses elaborated previous results in supporting the monophyly of the family and suggested that Musella and Ensete may be congeneric or at least closely related, but refuted the previous infrageneric classification of Musa. None of the five sections of Musa previously defined based on morphology was recovered as monophyletic group in the molecular phylogeny. Two infrageneric clades were identified, which corresponded well to the basic chromosome numbers of x=11 and 10/9/7, respectively: the former clade comprises species from the sections Musa and Rhodochlamys while the latter contains sections of Callimusa, Australimusa, and Ingentimusa.