Genetic relationships among ten endod types as revealed by a combination of morphological, RAPD and AFLP markers

The genetic relationships among ten types of endod (Phytolacca dodecandra) cultivated by the Institute of Pathobiology of the Addis Ababa University to combat the disease bilharzia in Ethiopia were studied using morphology and molecular markers. A total of 18 morphological characters, 194 amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) and 42 random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers were used to determine genetic proximity between types. Genetic distance and cluster analysis of the AFLP data revealed the lack of genetic difference between E47 and E48 but relatively wider genetic difference among the other endod types. Cluster and principal component analyses performed on the AFLP and RAPD markers demonstrated the presence of distinct separation of E56 but not that of E44 from the others. The AFLP and RAPD data, thcrefore, did not support the hypothesis that the superiority of E44 in agronomic traits and molluscicidal potency is linked to its distinct genetic difference from the other endod types. Matrices correspondence tests demonstrated the presence of greater correspondence between AFLP and RAPD data (r = 0.842) but not between the morphology and that of AFLP and RAPD. This indicates the correspondence more between the two DNA markers systems than either of them with morphological traits. The cophenetic correlation coefficients also revealed poor fit for morphology (r = 0.716), good fit for RAPD (r = 0.872) and very good fit for AFLP (r = 0.975), reflecting the hyper-variability and higher resolving power of AFLP.