MOLECULAR PHYLOGENY AND DNA AMPLIFICATION FINGERPRINTING OF PETUNIA-TAXA

The relationship of five species of Petunia and ten cultivars of the c ultivated petunia, Petunia x hybrida, were investigated using DNA-ampl ification fingerprinting (DAF). Reproducible banding profiles were obt ained from P. parodii and P. axillaris DNA from different seed sources , In contrast, other petunias such as P. inflata, P. violacea and P. i ntegrifolia produced variable fingerprints when different plants were examined. However, representative profiles of the variable Petunia tax a were obtained by bulking the leaf tissue from ten different individu al plants. Each of ten octamer primers revealed polymorphic loci betwe en taxa. Among a total of 201 bands produced, 146 (73%) loci were poly morphic and distinguished all species and cultivars. Phenetic and clus ter analysis using DAF markers separated P. axillaris from P. parodii and distinguished between the violet-flowered species, P. inflata, P. violacea, and P. integrifolia. P. parodii grouped together with the mo nophyletic set of the ten cultivars of P. x hybrida examined, indicati ng that it had made a major contribution to the development of these c ultivars. Cultivars were distributed within the dendograms by flower c olor. The results demonstrated the utility of DAF in establishing rela tionships among closely related species and cultivars of Petunia.