Abstract
Eighty-five lotus cultivars including interspecific hybrids, Nelumbo nucifera and N. pentapetala (Walter) originated from China (50), Japan (32), India (2) and America (1) were evaluated by inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) analysis. Reproducible polymorphic bands were amplified by 5 (UBC811, 818, 840, 855, 857) among 100 ISSR primers tested. Compared with Asian cultivars, on American cultivars showed specific polymorphic bands that were detected in hybrid cultivars. Among Asian lotuses, there also were polymorphic bands specific to wild red lotuses orginating from China and primitive lotuses from Japan. A fingerprinting map of 85 lotus cultivars was Constructed using 20 polymorphic bands. The results of ISSR can be successively used for identification of lotus cultivars.