Annals of Botany 93: 157-166, 2004
© 2004 Annals of Botany Company
Genetic Relationships of Aglaonema Species and Cultivars Inferred from AFLP Markers
1 Mid-Florida Research and Education Center, 2 Department of Environmental Horticulture, 3 Department of Plant Pathology, IFAS, University of Florida, 2725 Binion Road, Apopka, FL 32703-8504, USA and 4 Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521-0124, USA
* For correspondence. Fax 407-814-6186, e-mail jjchen{at}mail.ifas.ufl.edu or Fax 909-787-4437; e-mail ctchao{at}citrus.ucr.edu
Received: 24 March 2003;; Returned for revision: 11 September 2003; Accepted: 24 October 2003
Background and Aims Aglaonema is an important ornamental foliage plant genus, but genetic relationships among its species and cultivars have not been reported. This study analysed genetic relatedness of 54 cultivars derived from nine species using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers.
Methods Initially, 48 EcoRI + 2/MseI + 3 primer set combinations were screened, from which six primer sets that showed clear scoreable and highly polymorphic fragments were selected and used for AFLP reactions. AFLP fragments were scored and entered into a binary data matrix as discrete variables. Jaccards coefficient of similarity was calculated for all pair-wise comparisons among the 54 cultivars, and a dendrogram was constructed by the unweighted pair-group method using the arithmetic average (UPGMA).
Key Results The number of AFLP fragments generated per primer set ranged from 59 to 112 with fragment sizes varying from 50 to 565 bp. A total of 449 AFLP fragments was detected, of which 314 were polymorphic (70 %). All cultivars were clearly differentiated by their AFLP fingerprints. The 54 cultivars were divided into seven clusters; cultivars within each cluster generally share similar morphological characteristics. Cluster I contains 35 cultivars, most of them are interspecific hybrids developed mainly from A. commutatum, A. crispum or A. nitidum. However, Jaccards similarity coefficients among these hybrids are 0·84 or higher, suggesting that these popular hybrid cultivars are genetically much closer than previously thought. This genetic similarity may imply that A. nitidum and A. crispum are likely progenitors of A. commutatum.
Conclusions Results of this study demonstrate the efficiency and ease of using AFLP markers for investigating genetic relationships of ornamental foliage plants, a group usually propagated vegetatively. The AFLP markers developed will help future Aglaonema cultivar identification, germplasm conservation and new cultivar development.
Key words: AFLP markers, Araceae, Aglaonema, Chinese evergreens, genetic variation, ornamental tropical foliage plants.
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