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Pak. J. Bot., 44(4): 1261-1266, 2012.

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DNA SEQUENCE AND RAPD INFORMATION RE-AFFIRMS THE TAXONOMIC RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN APOCYNUM VENETUM L. AND POACYNUM PICTUM (SCHRENK) BAILL.

PENG XUEMEI^1,3, CAO YAN¹, YANG ZIYI¹, ZHANG WEIMING^1,2, LIU QITANG⁴ AND LU CHANGMEI^1*

Abstract: Medicinal plants Apocynum venetum L. and Poacynum  pictum (Schrenk) Baill. having similar efficacy belong to two genera. However, many similarities of morphological characteristics in pollen, seeds, leaves and stems etc. between the two species recommend it under one genus Apocynum L. To address this question, we selected DNA sequences [nuclear rDNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS), trnL intron and trnL-trnF intergenic spacer (IGS) sequence] and RAPD markers to assess the relationship between them, with samples from 10 populations of A. venetum and 5 populations of P. pictum from China. ITS sequences from all samples of A. venetum and P. pictum were same, and only two different sites were found in the trnL intron region and one different site in the trnL-trnF IGS region. The genetic distance between A. venetum and P. pictum calculated upon these regions was much smaller than both the intergeneric and interspecies genetic distances calculated upon the same regions in the vast majority of plants. This reaffirmed the notion that A. venetum and P. pictum had a close genetic relationship. Results from RAPD markers showed that there was high similarity and still stable difference between A. venetum and P. pictum. The genetic difference between A. venetum and P. pictum was greater than the differences among populations within species. Our studies recommend that A. venetum and P. pictum were genetic close-related species and they may be treated within one genus.

¹Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Biodiversity and Biotechnology, College of Life Science, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210046, China;

²Nanjing Institute for the Comprehensive Utilization of Wild Plants, Nanjing 210042, China;

³Analysis and Testing Center, Shanxi Datong University, Datong, 037009, China;

⁴Xinjiang Gebao Luobuhongma and Luobubaima Co1L td, Altai 836500, China

^*Corresponding author’s e-mail: luchangmei@njnu.edu.cn; Tel: (086)-025-85891971; Fax: (086)-025-85891526