DNA PROFILING RESOLVES THE LIMITED IMPORTANCE OF FLOWER COLOR IN DEFINING VARIETIES OF LANTANA-CAMARA

Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), successfully used to establ ish flower colour, is of limited importance in characterising weedy va rieties of Lantana camara. Initially the internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) region was sequenced for common pink and common pink-edged red varieties of L. camara from Australia and L. urticofolia from the neo tropics. This proved unhelpful in differentiating varieties due to a l ack of variation and the hybrid origin of L. camara, necessitating the utilisation of DNA profiling techniques. Unweighted pair group method arithmethic average (UPGMA) analysis of RAPD data demonstrated that g eographical proximity contributes more significantly to genetic relate dness than flower colour. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) likew ise demonstrated that geography accounts for a relatively large varian ce component. These data indicate that the use of flower colour as a p rimary identification tool needs to be reevaluated. The use of RAPD ma y prove useful in characterising the weedy varieties of lantana presen t in Australia and the South Pacific. Since biological control efforts are being hindered by the inadequacy of current morphological taxonom y, it is expected that DNA profiling will underpin continuing studies on the management and control of L. camara.