Journal of Taiwan Agricultural Research

Author:Ming-Jen Fan, Jau-Yueh Wang, Shuen-Fang Lo, Ting Rong Shu and L.M.Engle

Abstract:

Pepper (Capsicum spp.) is one of the most important economical vegetables of Solanaceae family. The genus of Capsicum collected in Taiwan mainly includes 8 species. There are C. annuum, C. baccatum, C. chinense, C. frutescens, C. pubescens, C. chaccoense, C. praetermissum and C. eximium. In order to identify and analyze the inter-specific and intra-specific genetic distance, a total of 94 lines representing these 8 species were selected for the study. From 580 random primers, 17 polymorphic primers were selected due to stable reproducibility of polymorphic bands. Three hundred and ninety-three effective polymorphic bands were obtained through RAPD analysis, and among them 196 bands could be used for species identification. The Cluster analysis based on Nei and Li’s similarity coefficient from these 17 primers was calculated by the UPGMA method. The results showed that C. eximium has the smallest mini distance (MD) (0.2783) and C. annuum has the largest mini distance (0.6009) within Capsicum species. The genetic distance between species was also obtained from aforementioned results. The result of Cluster analysis from RAPD molecular marker is accordant with that based on horticultural characters. The cluster analysis of the 8 species (groups) was based on the frequencies of polymorphic bands appeared in the same “species”, and calculated by the average linkage of hierarchical clustering. The result of cluster analysis of 8 groups is also similar to aforementioned results of 94 lines. In brief, the results indicate that RAPD markers are useful in estimating the genetic distances of the species between Capsicum, and can be used as the references for germplasm collection and breeding programs.

Key words: Capsicum spp., RAPD, Cluster analysis, Core collection

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