Abstract
Previous cytogenetic studies revealed that Allium wakegi Araki has a hybrid origin and its parental plants are A. fistulosum L. and A. cepa L. Aggregatum group. In order to trace the origin of the cytoplasm of A. wakegi and to identify its maternal and paternal plants, restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) were studied in the chloroplast DNAs of A. fistulosum, A. cepa Aggregatum group, their reciprocal hybrids and A. wakegi Interspecific RFLPs were clearly observed between A. fistulosum and A. cepa Aggregatum group with four restriction enyzmes, Sma I, Pvu II, Xho I and Bgl II. The reciprocal interspecific hybrids showed the restriction patterns similar to those of the maternal plants. All the clones of A. wakegi, collected from Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan and Myanmar, showed restriction patterns quite similar to those of A. fistulosum without exception. These results establish that the maternal and paternal plants of A. wakegi are A. fistulosum and A. cepa Aggregatum group, respectively.
