Genetic relationships in Eriobotrya species as revealed by amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers

Although most of the species in Eriobotrya originated in China there are few studies on the genetics and genetic relationship of this genus. The aim of the present study was to clarify genetic relationships among 18 Eriobotrya accessions from China using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP). Two close relatives Raphiolepisindica (L.) Lindl. and Photiniaserrulata Lindl. were used as outgroups. The results showed that 5 selected AFLP primer combinations amplified 297 scorable bands, of which 282 were polymorphic, yielding a polymorphism rate of 95%. Genetic similarity coefficient among Eriobotrya accessions ranged from 0.82 (between E. bengalensis Hook.f. and E. bengalensis forma angustifolia Vidal) to 0.41 (between E. serrate Vidal and E. deflexa Nakai) indicating substantial genetic variations in the Eriobotrya accessions evaluated. The unweighted pair-group method of arithmetic averages (UPGMA) cluster analysis, based on genetic similarity coefficient, produced a dendrogram which grouped 20 accessions into three main clusters. The result of cluster analysis was generally in agreement with the known taxonomic grouping. Furthermore, the clustering of the 18 accessions of Eriobotrya was consistent with systematic classification based on morphological characteristics.