Plant Science Today, ISSN 2348-1900 (online) OPEN ACCESS ARTICLE HISTORY Received: 04 May 2022 Accepted: 09 November 2022 Available online Version 1.0 : 10 January 2023 Additional information Peer review: Publisher thanks Sectional Editor and the other anonymous reviewers for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Reprints & permissions information is avail- able at https://horizonepublishing.com/ journals/index.php/PST/open_access_policy Publisher’s Note: Horizon e-Publishing Group remains neutral with regard to jurisdic- tional claims in published maps and institu- tional afiliations. Indexing: Plant Science Today, published by Horizon e-Publishing Group, is covered by Scopus, Web of Science, BIOSIS Previews, Clarivate Analytics, NAAS etc. See https://horizonepublishing.com/journals/ index.php/PST/indexing_abstracting Copyright: © The Author(s). This is an open- access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/) CITE THIS ARTICLE Unamba C I N, Agbagwa I O. Utilization of conserved genic SSR markers for phylogenet- ic analysis of Nigerian Ipomoea species. Plant Science Today (Early Access). https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.1875 Abstract Ipomoea, with enormous economic importance, is a large genus with spe- cies that are highly evolutionarily diverged. There is dearth of information regarding the phylogenetic relationships of the Nigerian species of the ge- nus Ipomoea. It is therefore imperative to use contemporary taxonomic evi- dences to understand the diversity of its distribution in a region and provide enhanced delimitation of the taxa. In this study, 6 genic simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers whose cross transferability have been established among the plant species were selected to appraise their level of polymor- phism and used to study the phylogenetic relationships among 11 indige- nous Nigerian Ipomoea species. The 6 SSR loci showed varying levels of pol- ymorphism among the genotypes of all 11 species assessed and demon- strated 100% polymorphism when examined across the 11 species. A total of 55 alleles were produced. The PIC of the primers ranged between 0.2223 and 0.874 with an average value of 0.71885. Phylogenetic analysis clustered species into 3 major and 6 sub clusters wherein the species were clearly sep- arated. This study has shown the efectiveness of developed genic SSR markers for establishing phylogenetic relationship in Ipomoea species. Keywords SSR Markers, Genic, Phylogenetics, Ipomoea, Conserved Introduction The genus Ipomoea, belonging to the family Convolvulaceae is widely dis- tributed in the tropic and subtropic regions. The genus comprises of species which are annual and perennial herbs, vines, shrubs and even small trees (1-4). A striking morphological characteristic of the Convolvulaceae family, is twining or climbing woody or herbaceous plants ofen having heart - shaped leaves and funnel-shaped flowers (5). The genus is known anatomi- cally with the existence of cells, which secrete resin glycosides in the foliar tissues and the roots. These glycoresins are a key chemotaxonomic marker of this family (6) and are implicated for the purgative characteristics of some species of the Convolvulaceae (7). Several species of Ipomoea are used as ornamental plants, food or medicines. Interestingly, antimicrobial, analgesic, spasmolitic, spasmogen- ic, hypoglycemic, hypotensive, anticoagulant, anti -inflammatory, psychoto- mimetic and anticancer activities were reported in number of the species (8). Examining the relationships among a group of closely related organ- isms to settle on their evolutionary history is core objectives in systematic RESEARCH ARTICLE PLANT SCIENCE TODAY ISSN 2348-1900 (online) Vol x(x): xx–xx https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.1875 HORIZON e-Publishing Group Utilization of conserved genic SSR markers for phylogenetic analysis of Nigerian Ipomoea species Chibuikem I N Unamba 1,2 * & Ikechukwu O Agbagwa 2 1 Department of Plant Science and Biotechnology (Botany), Imo State University, 460222 Nigeria 2 Department of Plant Science and Biotechnology, University of Port Harcourt, 500004 Nigeria *Email: chibuikem.unamba@gmail.com