Tracing the Parentages of Some Oriental Hybrid Lily Cultivars by PCR-RFLP Analysis

Abstract

PCR-RFLP analysis was applied to some interspecific hybrid cultivars of lily to verify their probable parentage. Six Lilium species, L. auratum var. platyphyllum, L. japonicum, L. speciosum, L. nobilissimum, L. auratum and L. rubellum, were analyzed with four pairs of primers and 22 restriction enzymes ; among them PCR-RFLP markers, characteristic to each species, were detected. L.×formolongi, L. speciosum and their artificial hybrids derived by embryo culture confirmed that the PCR-RFLP markers in a chloroplast gene of the female parent were inherited by all hybrids, whereas the markers in a nuclear rRNA gene of the hybrids possessed a combined band pattern of the female and pollen parents. Hence, we utilized PCR-RFLP analysis for tracing the parents of interspecific hybrid cultivars. PCR-RFLP gel patterns were analyzed to trace parents of six lily hybrid cultivars called Oriental hybrids, 'Star Gazer', 'Le reve', 'Casa Blanca', 'Summer Dress', 'Pink Pearl', and 'Marco Polo'. The data indicate that the cytoplasm of 'Casa Blanca', 'Summer Dress', and 'Pink Pearl' was transmitted from L. speciosum, whereas that of 'Star Gazer', 'Le reve', and 'Marco Polo', was inherited from L. auratum var. platyphyllum or L. japonicum. The pollen parents of these hybrids were not completely identified because genetic segregation may have occurred at gametogenesis if pollen parents were interspecific hybrids.