Wj. Kennington et al., DNA-FINGERPRINTING SUPPORTS NOTIONS OF CLONALITY IN A RARE MALLEE, EUCALYPTUS-ARGUTIFOLIA, Molecular ecology, 5(5), 1996, pp. 693-696
DNA fingerprinting was used to test for genetic variation within putat
ive clones of Eucalyptus argutifolia, a rare multistemmed (mallee) spe
cies endemic to Western Australia. Hybridization of the M13 repeat seq
uence to HaeIII digested DNA samples was able to discriminate between
seedlings from the same maternal plant, demonstrating the capability o
f this probe in detecting different individuals of this species. Each
of the putative clones yielded a unique banding pattern, but no variat
ion was found within clones. These results are consistent with the not
ion of clonality in E. argutifolia and reaf-firm that populations are
likely to contain considerably fewer individuals than originally antic
ipated.