J Syst Evol ›› 2000, Vol. 38 ›› Issue (2): 97-110.

• Research Articles •     Next Articles

Molecular systematic studies on the tribe Polygonateae (s. l.) in China based on RFLPs data of PCR-amplified chloroplast DNA fragments

WU Shi-An, Lü Hai-liang, YANG Ji, RAO Guang-Yuan, YOU Rui-Lin, GE Song   

  • Published:2000-03-10

Abstract: Phylogenetic relationships in the tribe Polygonateae s. l. of Liliaceae were investigated with an RFLP analysis of two PCR-amplified chloroplast genome DNA fragments. One fragment is the transfer RNA gene for lysine( trnK gene) including the maturase-encoding gene matK, and the other is the rpl16 gene which codes for a chloroplast ribosomal protein in large subunit. The trnK gene is ca. 2600 bp in length in all the taxa, but the rpl16 gene ranges from ca. 1140 bp to ca. 1320 bp in length among different genera and in Polygonatum. The results suggested that the tribe Polygonateae s. str. consisting of Polygonatum, Disporopsis, Smilacina and Maianthemum is closely related to Convallaria in Convallarieae, and supported the earlier results that Streptopus and Disporum should be removed out from the tribe Polygonateae s. l.. The results also showed that Polygonatum formed a clad with Disporopsis, while Smilacina lumped with Maianthemum in the tribe Polygonateae s. str.. In addition, the present study supports the view that S. ginfoshanicumshould be transferred from Smilacina to Polygonatum.

Key words: Polygonatum, Systematics, RFLP, trnK gene, rpl16 gene