Genetic Relationships of Flowering Lotus (Nelumbo spp.) Based on RAPD Markers

Abstract

Genetic relationships of 24 cultivars of flowering lotus (Nelumbo spp.) including hybrids between Asian lotus and American yellow lotus were investigated by constructing phylogenic trees based on variability of RAPD markers. Arbitrary 10-mer primers were used individually and/or two different primers mixed randomly for PCR. Forty-three of 54 primer combinations generated 204 reliable RAPD bands. Phylogenic trees for cultivars were constructed from the RAPD markers by the Wagner and neighbor joining methods. The results show three major groups of cultivars of flowering lotus: the Asian lotus group, American lotus group and old Japanese lotus group. Old Japanese lotus cultivars, Primitive lotus, Lace gem, Wisteria court and Whole world, which have been cultivated for a long time from the Edo period at eastern Japan, differing from the cultivars, Oga lotus, Gyoda lotus and Palace lotus, that were reared from seeds excavated from ancient deposits in eastern Japan. The plants of these old cultivars from eastern of Japan had the common feature of a smooth leaf surface.