Genetic Analyses of Genus Cypripedium Found in Northern Japanese Islands and Related Species Endemic to Northeast China

Abstract

Several species and varieties of genus Cypripedium grown in Japanese Islands and northeast China were investigated using genetic analysis. C. macranthos var. hotei-atsmorianum and C. macranthos var. rebunense were collected in northern Japan. They are regarded as varieties or forms of C. macranthos of Eurasia. Although the large subunit of ribulose-1, 5-diphosphate decarboxylase/oxydase (rbcL) of chloroplast did not show any difference among the species, a difference between C. macranthos var. hotei-atsmorianum and the other two was found in the sequence of nuclear DNA encoding the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of ribosomal RNA. Random amplified polymorphic DNA method (RAPD) revealed a difference between C. macranthos var. rebunense from others. That C. calceolus and C. macranthos which were both collected in the Eurasia differed was demonstrated by their rbcL analyses and ITS sequences. The genetic analyses confirmed that C. × ventricosum was a hybrid of C. calceolus × C. macranthos. Thus, analyses using rbcL and ITS region are useful to distinguish species and varieties of Cypripedium.