SYSTEMATICS AND RANDOMLY AMPLIFIED POLYMORPHIC DNA IN THE GENUS LEUCAENA (LEGUMINOSAE, MIMOSOIDEAE)

Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) was used to examine genomic diversity in taxa of the neotropical legume genus Leucaena. Data were analysed using both similarity- and parsimony-based approaches and the data compared to a parsimony-based analysis of chloroplast DNA restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLP). Distance-based methods of RAPD analysis produced groups inconsistent with those identified by RFLP analysis. Parsimony-based analysis of the data produced groupings largely consistent with those identified using RFLPs. The major differences were grouping of the two subspecies of Leucaena diversifolia (subsp. diversifolia and subsp. stenocarpa) in the RAPD tree, but their separation in the RFLP tree. The value of RAPD data in systematics as a result of these data and our understanding of the molecular basis of RAPDs are discussed.