RAPD ANALYSIS OF SHRUBS BELONGING TO THE GENUS CYTISUS AND ALLIES (GENISTEAE: FABACEAE), AS AN AID FOR TAXONOMIC DISCRIMINATION

ABSTRACT

Twenty-five accessions belonging to the genus Cytisus and allied taxa (Genisteae: Fabaceae) were analyzed using RAPD (Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA) techniques in order to study the usefulness of this technique for characterization of species and genera and for estimation of its potential value for further populational studies and prebreeding programs. A high level of intrapopulational variability was detected. Nevertheless, when only common bands to all the studied individuals per accession were considered for numerical analysis, the technique was useful for characterization at the specific and generic levels. The dendrogram obtained supports the generic arrangement proposed by Bisby (1981), helping to elucidate the difficult taxonomy of the studied taxa. The high intrapopulational variability indicates that RAPD could be useful for populational studies and also as molecular markers.