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Research Article
ScienceAsia 31 (2005): 145-149 |doi: 10.2306/scienceasia1513-1874.2005.31.145
DNA Fingerprint Database of Some Economically
Important Thai Plants: Litchi chinensis Sonn,
Dimocarpus longan Lour, and Peuraria spp.
Rungrach Wangspaa, Robert W. Cutlerb,*, Supranee Sitthiproma, Ruttaporn Chundeta, Nadtaya
Dumampaic, and Somboon Anuntalabhochaia
ABSTRACT: The high annealing temperature random amplified polymorphic DNA (HAT-RAPD) method can be
used to generate highly polymorphic data from PCR amplification of DNA samples to determine relatedness
in plant cultivars. Using the HAT-RAPD method, we created a fingerprint database of tropical plants for
fourteen subspecies of Dimocarpus longan Lour., twelve subspecies of Litchi chinensis Sonn., and seven
distinct varieties of the genus Peuraria, two of which were previously uncharacterized. Out of a total of 22
distinct primer sets, a subset of primers with reproducible DNA band patterns was characterized for each
species. From this data, we developed a web-accessible database that both graphically and quantitatively
depicts the existent bands and species phylogenies using character state data generated from the banding
patterns. Using historical and geographic data for these plant species and subspecies, the generated phylogenies
support the currently accepted species relationships for D. longan and L. chinensis and characterize the
unidentified varieties of Peuraria. The HAT-RAPD experimental method combined with band pattern
recognition is a cost effective and easily characterized methodology that can be used to identify plant
varieties, as well as to advance the knowledge of biodiversity in previously uncharacterized species.
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a Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50202, Thailand.
b Department of Biology, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York 12504, USA.
c Trang Horticultural Research Center Siako, Trang 92150, Thailand.
* Corresponding author, E-mail: cutler@bard.edu
Received 26 July 2004,
Accepted 12 Jan 2005
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