The 18S–25S ribosomal RNA unit of yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis A. St.-Hil.)

Abstract

We present the first report of the transcribed 18S-25S rDNA unit of the South-American crop Ilex paraguariensis. This tree is consumed as an infusion named "mate". NGS data was assembled, referenceannotated and further characterized. The assembled consensus sequence of the complete transcribed rDNA unit is 6961 nt, with a coverage of ~18,646X and 99.3% of global sequence similarity. The transcribed 18S and 25S rDNA genes of yerba mate are the first in the genus to be characterized, combined to the 5.8S that is identical to the consensus sequence of Ilex. The ITS1 and the ITS2 display species-specific regions, useful to differentiate yerba mate from adulterant taxa of the manufactured product. A replication slippage process seems significant in the evolution of the ITS in Ilex. The 5ETS consists in SR1, that encloses a large inverted repeat/hairpin region, and SR2 which is a high homology region in the Asterids clade and embrace six distinctive inverted repeat/hairpin segments. The 3ETS presents a pyrimidine-rich block associated to transcription termination, mirror-like palindromes and repetitive segments, all networking at the secondary structure level. This information will be helpful in leading future studies in the molecular evolution characterization of this crop and related species of Ilex.

Dataset of the transcribed 45S ribosomal RNA sequence of the tree crop “yerba mate”

“…Total RNA extracted of five samples of emerging, young, fully expanded, and early and late senescent stages leaves of Ilex paraguariensis breeding line Pg538 were pooled for high throughput sequencing [1] .…”