Interspecific Hybridization between Arisaema sikokianum and A. tosaense (Araceae) Confirmed through Nuclear and Chloroplast DNA Comparisons

Abstract

Morphologically intermediate plants between Arisaema sikokianum Franch. & Sav. and A. tosaense Makino were newly found in Tokushima Prefecture, Shikoku, Japan. Molecular analysis using PCR-RFLP of internal transcribed spacer (ITS) in nuclear DNA (nrDNA) indicated that these putative hybrids have a combined pattern of the two putative parental species. Moreover, the sequence results of chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) analysis of the putative hybrids were on the whole identical with both A. sikokianum or A. tosaense. The results suggest that the plants are hybrids between A. sikokianum and A. tosaense and that they have exchanged genes with the two parental species.