Abstract:

The phylogenetic relationship of 29 Chaenomeles cultivars was analyzed using AFLP. Eight pairs of primers (EcoRⅠ+3/MseⅠ+3) were used to selectively amplify the genomic DNA of the cultivars. In total， 1 095 bands were obtained， and 1 035 of them were polymorphic. The percentage of polymorphic bands was 94.52%. This showed that Chaenomeles had abundant genetic diversity. The similarity coefficients were calculated using DICE method of NTSYS-PC software， and clustering was carried with UPGMA. The similarity coefficients among cultivars varied from 0.465 0 to 0.833 9. Those cultivars with similar morphological characteristics were usually clustered preferably， and therefore， the 29 cultivars could be classified into 4 groups based on AFLP molecular markers data. The 4 groups apparently matched to C. speciosa， C. japonica， C. cathayensis and C. × superba respectively. The cultivar ‘Crimson and Gold’ should be included into C. speciosa, however the taxonomy for cultivar ‘Bixue’ needed further work. It showed that AFLP was efficient to reveal the phylogenetic relationship and the evolutionary course of Chaenomeles germplasms.

Key words: Chaenomeles, elite cultivars, phylogenetic relationship, AFLP, similarity coefficient