Received: August 18, 2011 Revised: September 5, 2011 Accepted: September 11, 2011
Abstract
In order to acquire information on chloroplast DNA markers to evaluate the genetic diversity of evergreen broad leaved plants, we investigated the intraspecific variation of cpDNA in eight non-coding regions of nine species commonly distributed in East Asia. Although no variations were detected in psbA-trnH, rpoB-trnC, rpl16 and atpB-rbcL regions, a relatively large amount of intraspecific variations was detected in the psbC-trnS, rps16 and trnL-F regions. These results suggested that these three cpDNA markers are suitable to assess genetic diversity of the species investigated in this study. In contrast, intraspecific variations were detected in seven taxa except Hedera rhombea and Neolitsea aciculata. Neolitsea sericea and the taxa of Quercus had many polymorphic sites.