The concordance of terpenoid, ISSR and RAPD markers, and ITS sequence data sets among genotypes: an example from Juniperus

Abstract

Twelve individual genotypes selected from Juniperus populations, varieties and species were analyzed using ITS sequences, RAPDs, ISSRs, and leaf volatile terpenoids. These four data sets, all analyzed in the same manner, illustrated that these data sets can be used at different organizational levels: specific, inter-specific and intraspecific. Similarity matrices for the ITS, RAPD, and ISSR data sets were highly correlated ( r ranged from 0.83 to 0.95). In contrast, the terpenoid matrix had a low correlation with the other data matrices ( r ranged from −0.04 to 0.38). Because these 12 genotypes were taken from several species, the terpenoids, having been shown to most useful at the infra-specific level, were not concordant at this taxonomic level. The high correlation between DNA markers and ITS sequence data implies that these data are measuring concordant patterns among these genotypes.