Genetic Relationships of Panax Species by RAPD and ISSR Analyses
This study was carried out to develop convenient and reproducible methods for identifying the genetic relationship among germplasms of Panax species based on molecular genetics. Using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) analyses, genetic polymorphism of the Panax species was investigated with following cultivars and accessions, such as Chunpoong, Yunpoong, Kopoong, Sunpoong, and Kumpoong in domestic cultivars, Hwangsuk, Jakyung and Suckju in domestic accessions, and Panax quinquefolius L. and Panax japonicus C.A. Meyer in foreign introduced accessions, respectively. Specific DNA fragments ranging from 200 to 3,000 base pairs in size could be obtained with various ISSR and RAPD primers under the optimized PCR conditions. The dissimilarity coefficients among the genetic polymorphisms of ginseng cultivars and accessions were calculated from 0.26 to 0.90 in RAPD and from 0.12 to 0.89 in ISSR analysis, respectively. Eleven plant samples were grouped siblings together with cultivars and parents based on cluster analysis of genetic distance depending on genetic property such as origin of the species. In results, both RAPD and ISSR analyses were useful for identifying the genetic relationship among cultivars and accessions of Panax species at DNA level.