IDENTIFICATION OF MATERNAL AND PATERNAL PLANTS OF ALLIUM-WAKEGI ARAKIBY RFLP ANALYSIS OF CHLOROPLAST DNA

Previous cytogenetic studies revealed that Allium wakegi Araki has a h ybrid origin and its parental plants are A. fistulosum L. and A. cepa L. Aggregatum group. In order to trace the origin of the cytoplasm of A. wakegi and to identify its maternal and paternal plants, restrictio n fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) were studied in the chloroplas t DNAs of A. fistulosum, A. cepa Aggregatum group, their reciprocal hy brids and A. wakegi. Interspecific RFLPs were clearly observed between A. fistulosum and A. cepa Aggregatum group with four restriction enzy mes, SmaI, PvuII, Xho I and Bgl II. The reciprocal interspecific hybri ds showed the restriction patterns similar to those of the maternal pl ants. All the clones of A. wakegi, collected from Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan and Myanmar, showed restriction patterns quite similar to thos e of A. fistulosum without exception. These results establish that the maternal and paternal plants of A. wakegi are A. fistulosum and A. ce pa Aggregatum group, respectively.