Identities and Relationships among Chinese Vegetable Brassicas as Determined by Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Markers

Abstract

Fifty-two germplasm accessions of Chinese vegetable brassicas were analyzed using 112 random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers. The array of material examined spanned a wide range of morphological, geographic, and genetic diversity, and included 30 accessions of Brassica rapa L. (Chinese cabbage, pakchoi, turnip, and broccoletto), 18 accessions of B. juncea (L.) Czern. (leaf, stem, and root mustards), and four accessions of B. oleracea L. ssp. alboglabra (Chinese kale). The RAPD markers unambiguously identified all 52 accessions. Nei-Li similarities were computed and used in unweighed pair group method using arithmetic means (UPGMA) cluster analyses. Accessions and subspecies were clustered into groups corresponding to the three species, but some accessions of some subspecies were most closely related to accessions belonging to other subspecies. Values for Nei-Li similarities suggest that Chinese cabbage is more likely to have been produced by hybridization of turnip and pakchoi than as a selection from either turnip or pakchoi alone. RAPD markers are a fast, efficient method for diversity assessment in Chinese vegetable brassicas that complements techniques currently in use in genetic resources collections.