Use of RAPD analysis to assess the threat of interspecific hybridization to the critically endangered Polemonium kiushianum in Japan.
Polemonium kiushianum is a critically endangered species of which only eight populations exist in semi-natural grasslands of the Mt. Aso area of Kyushu, Japan. Habitat modification and the risk of hybridization with non-indigenous horticultural congeners, such as P. caeruleum subsp. caeruleum and P. caeruleum subsp. yezoense var. yezoense, pose increasing threats to P. kiushianum. To develop a DNA marker that distinguishes P. kiushianum from other Polemonium species, we performed random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis and selected an approximately 500-bp fragment generated by the OPB06 RAPD primer. In addition, we designed a primer pair, H11F/R, based on the nucleotide sequences of the fragments derived from P. caeruleum subsp. caeruleum and P. caeruleum subsp. yezoense var. yezoense. The results with the H11F/R primers indicated that most extant P. kiushianum plants in natural populations are not genetically contaminated by hybridization with non-indigenous horticultural species.
Matoba
Hideyuki
H
Department of Applied Biological Science, College of Bioresource Sciences, Nihon University, 1866 Kameino, Fujisawa, Kanagawa 252-0880, Japan.
Inaba
Kazufumi
K
Nagano
Katsuya
K
Uchiyama
Hiroshi
H
D018744:DNA, Plant / Q000235:genetics; D056727:Endangered Species; D006824:Hybridization, Genetic; D007564:Japan; D019684:Magnoliopsida / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D019105:Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Technique / Q000379:methods*; D013045:Species Specificity
D018744:DNA, Plant