MITOCHONDRIAL-DNA VARIATION IN FINGER MILLET (ELEUSINE-CORACANA L GAERTN)

This study was conducted to classify 26 lines of finger millet from Af rica and India into cytotype groups based on the Southern blot hybridi zation patterns obtained with maize and sorghum mitochondrial cloned g ene probes. Five restriction endonuclease enzymes were used for single digestions on total cellular DNA, giving a total of 20 enzyme/probe c ombinations. There was a low level of polymorphism, with identical RFL P banding patterns in 23 of the 26 lines. However, mtDNA clone atp9 hy bridized to a 3.6 Kb Xba1 fragment in ecotype SDFM-1143 from Malawi; b ut did not hybridize to a 3.0 Kb fragment present in all other ecotype s. Two Zimbabwean lines, SDFM 63 and SDFM 77, had an extra, low intens ity 6.5 Kb Xba1 fragment hybridized by mtDNA clone cox1. This data ena bled classification of the lines into 3 cytotype groups.