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  • Author or Editor: D.B. Neale x
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Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis was used to estimate genetic similarities between Portuguese Camelliasinensis (L.) O. Kuntze (tea plant) accessions and those obtained from the germplasm collections from the Tea Research Foundation of Kenya and from the National Research Institute of Vegetables, Ornamental Plants, and Tea of Japan. The accessions studied are taxonomically classified as C. sinensis, var. sinensis, var. assamica, or ssp. lasiocalyx. A set of 118 ten-base arbitrary primers was tested, of which 25 produced informative, reproducible, and polymorphic banding patterns. These primers were used to amplify DNA from 71 tea plant accessions and produced a total of 282 bands, of which 195 were polymorphic. The phenotypic frequencies were calculated using Shannon's Index and employed in estimating genetic diversity within tea plant populations. Our study demonstrates that tea plant populations, including the Portuguese tea plants, show considerable genetic variability. From the UPGMA cluster analysis based on a matrix using the Jaccard coefficient, it was possible to distinguish the Portuguese tea plants from the remaining accessions. The RAPD markers discriminated the three C. sinensis varieties. Moreover, within each variety cluster, subclusters formed according to geographic distribution. The RAPD analysis also separated the commercially cultivated tea plants from the Taiwanese wild tea plants. The present results show that RAPD analysis constitutes a good method to estimate genetic diversity within C. sinensis, and to differentiate C. sinensis accessions according to taxonomic variety and geographical distribution.

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