Abstract:

Ten trees with approximately the same age and diameter at breast height were sampled from each of the 5 populations of Taxus yunnanensis to measure taxol contents of barks, twigs and needles. Their variation patterns were then analyzed, and correlations between 194 RAPD markers and taxol contents of barks, twigs and needles were further tested. The result indicated that there were significant (P<0.05) differences of taxol content in bark, twigs and needles among 5 populations. The variations in barks, twigs and needles took up 16.22%, 33.9% and 45.81%, respectively among populations. There were 11, 13 and 59 RAPD markers identified to be significantly correlated to taxol contents of barks, twigs and needles with their contribution rates ranging from 7.791% to 11.509%, 7.853% to 24.457% and 7.858% to 26.729%, respectively. Special markers were also screened out to indicate the low taxol content in barks, twigs and needles. It was suggested that different genetic improvement strategies should be used for various management objectives such as barks, twigs or needles utility, in terms of the variations of taxol contents among different organs in this species.

Key words: Taxus yunnanensis, taxol content, variation, RAPD