Chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) restriction fragment length polymorphisms were used
to study the parentage of lemons [Citrus limon (L.) Burm. f.] and several
other putative hybrids. The 30 citrus accessions studied included nine lemo
ns, three pummelos [C. maxima (Burm.) Merrill], three citrons (C. medica L.
), three mandarins (C. reticulata Blanco, C. clementina Hort. Ex. Y. Tan.,
and C. sunki Hort. ex. Tan.), and single representatives of 13 other taxa.
Pour different fragments of citrus cpDNA were amplified by polymerase chain
reaction using four universal chloroplast primers and amplification produc
ts were digested with four endonucleases, Rsa I, Dra I, Hae III, and Mbo I.
A total of 104 different restriction fragments were scored and used for ph
ylogenetic analysis by parsimony. The three taxa which have been proposed a
s ancestral Citrus L. sp., C medica, C. maxima, and C. reticulata, had dist
inct cpDNA patterns. Pommelo contributed the chloroplast genome to lemons,
sweet orange [C. sinensis (L.) Osbeck], and Bergamot orange(C. bergamia Ris
so and Bolt.), and mandarin contributed the chloroplast genome to rough lem
ons (C. jambhiri Lush.), Rangpur lime (C. limonia Osbeck), and 'Mexican' li
me [C. aurantifolia (Christm.) Swing.]. Data suggest that the particular ac
cessions of these ancestral species that were studied were not directly inv
olved in the hybridization events that created these hybrids, since they ha
ve similar but not identical cpDNA restriction fragments. Using inter-simpl
e sequence repeat markers that amplified from nuclear genomic DNA, a set of
samples including pummelos, citrons, mandarins, sour oranges (C. aurantium
L.), and 'Samuyao' papeda (C,micrantha Wester) were tested as possible par
ents of lemons. Sour orange and citron together had an nuclear and chloropl
ast fragments found in lemon and are therefore proposed to be the maternal
and paternal parents, respectively, of many commercial lemon cultivars, inc
luding 'Lisbon', 'Eureka', 'Villafranca', and 'Monachello'.