Abstract
To clarify phylogenetic relationships among Capsicum annuum, C. chinense and C. frutescens and among accessions within each species, RAPD analysis was carried out for 87 accessions of these species including C. praetermissum as an out group. Thirteen arbitrary primers of 10-mer generated 99 polymorphic bands. A dendrogram was constructed by the NJ method using RAPD data. Three major clusters corresponded to 3 species with the exception of 4 accessions. The cluster of C. frutescens separated into sub-clusters corresponding to collected areas and there were a few genetically different groups in Asia. Species-specific RAPD bands were observed, which facilitated efficient identification of a species. Introgression among three species was assumed because 4 accessions had peculiar morphological characters and species-specific RAPD bands from two different species together.
