Hedysarum phylogeny mediated by RFLP analysis of nuclear ribosomal DNA - RFLP and Hedysarum phylogeny

The RFLP technique has been employed to investigate phylogenetic relationsh ips between species of the Hedysarum genus. Homologous DNA probes were used to generate patterns from a set of the Mediterranean group. The degree of band sharing was used to estimate genetic distances between species and to draw phylogenetic trees. These are in good agreement with phylogeny based o n morphological and isozyme markers, but contain novel insights. The result s are discussed in the context of current work in molecular biosystematics in Hedysarum complex. Attempts made in this approach to access the extent o f variability at the DNA level occurring with the domestication process hav e been investigated. With the availability of the tested probes, it has bee n assumed that the genetic structure is not affected by the domestication p rocess.