Confirmation of relationships among Boesenbergia (Zingiberaceae) and related genera by RAPD

The relationships among 19 accessions of Zingiberaceae belonging to 11 species of Boesenbergia, six species of Kaempferia, and two species of Scaphochlamys from Southern Thailand were studied using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) profiles from leaf tissue samples. The RAPD was carried out using 10 random decamer arbitrary primers. Amplification occurred in five out of 10 tested primers (OPAM-01, OPAM-03, OPAM-12, OPB-14, OPZ-03). Total of 53 amplified bands were observed. Data obtained from the RAPD fingerprints from the samples clarified some doubts in morphological classification. The data were analyzed for the Nei and Li's Dice similarity coefficient for pair-wise comparison between individual samples and the distance matrix. The dendrogram resulting from cluster analysis, UPGMA and a principal component analysis of the RAPD result confirms a higher degree of relationship between Boesenbergia and Scaphochlamys than between Boesenbergia and Kaempferia.