GENETIC-RELATIONSHIPS IN LENS SPECIES AND PARENTAGE DETERMINATION OF THEIR INTERSPECIFIC HYBRIDS USING RAPD MARKERS

Broadening of the genetic base and systematic exploitation of heterosi s in cultivated lentils requires reliable information on genetic diver sity in the germplasm. The ability of random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) to distinguish among different taxa of Lens was evaluated for several geographically dispersed accessions/cultivars of four diploid Lens species. This study was carried out to assess whether RAPD data c an provide additional evidence about the origin of the cultivated lent il and to measure genetic variability in lentil germplasm. Three culti vars of Lens culinaris ssp. culinaris, including one microsperma, and two macro-sperma types, and four wild species (L. culinaris ssp. orien talis, L. odemensis and L. nigricans) were evaluated for genetic varia bility using a set of 1 11-mer and 14 random 10-mer primers. One hundr ed and fifty-eight reproducible and scorable DNA bands were observed f rom these primers. Genetic distances between each of the accessions we re calculated from simple matching coefficients. Split decomposition a nalysis of the RAPD data allowed construction of an unrooted tree. Thi s study revealed that (1) the level of intraspecific genetic variation in cultivated lentils is narrower than that in some wild species. (2) L. culinaris ssp. orientalis is the most likely candidate as a progen itor of the cultivated species, (3) L. nigricans accession W6 3222 (un known) and L. c. ssp. orientalis W6 3244 (Turkey) can be reclassified as species of L. odemensis and (4) transmission of genetic material in Lens interspecific hybrids is genotypically specific, as identified b y the RAPD markers in our study.