MITOCHONDRIAL GENOME OF THYMUS-VULGARIS L (LABIATE) IS HIGHLY POLYMORPHIC BETWEEN AND AMONG NATURAL-POPULATIONS

Analysis of mitochondrial DNA polymorphism in natural populations of T hymus vulgaris revealed the existence of high variability between and among populations. Using southern hybridization with two restriction e nzymes analysis and one heterologous probe, 13 mitotypes were detected among three natural populations. All the mitotypes except two were sp ecific to a single population. This high polymorphism was also detecte d with three other heterologous probes. To analyse this variability fu rther, we studied restriction patterns of purified mtDNA from single i ndividuals sampled from each of three natural populations. The three i ndividuals showed completely different EcoRI mtDNA restriction fragmen t patterns, while EcoRI cpDNA restriction fragment patterns were ident ical for the three individuals. To test the possibility of paternal mt DNA as a potential source of the polymorphism observed, the mode of in heritance of mtDNA was studied and found to be maternal.