The genetic relationships among five genera, seven species of Theaceae were examined through a random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis and internal transcribed spacer (ITS). In RAPD analysis, five of 15 arbitrary primers showed polymorphic bands, which were able to classify different genera and species of Theaceae. The genetic variations of Theaceae were from 0.031 to 0.484. In ITS analysis, the ITS sequences were analyzed using BLAST and showed high identities with sequences of Theaceae, seven species published in NCBI GenBank database, which ranged from 98 to 100%. Sequence alignment of seven species showed 34.9% identities for ITS 1 region and 43.7% for ITS 2 region. Pairwise sequence divergences among seven species ranged from 0 to 0.330%. In phylogenetic tree, they were divided into three groups. In conclusion, the molecular data generated in the present investigation will help to understand the genetic relationships of Theaceae and also might be useful for further studies in intra-species, inter-species, and molecular evolution researches.

• Jong-bin An(Korea National Arboretum) Corresponding author
• Jeong-geun Park(Korea National Arboretum)
• Gab-chul Choo(Department of Forest Resources, Gyeongnam National University of Science and Technology) Corresponding author