Premise of the study:Polymorphic microsatellite markers of Zanthoxylum schinifolium (Rutaceae), a promising medicinal plant with effective antibacterial, anticancer, and anti-inflammatory compounds, were developed and evaluated for further genetic studies based on genetic variation among individuals or populations.Methods and Results:Following the selective hybridization method, microsatellite-enrichment libraries were constructed. Using these libraries, we obtained 15 polymorphic and three monomorphic microsatellite markers for Z. schinifolium. The number of alleles observed in each of the 15 polymorphic loci ranged from two to eight, and the observed and expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.070 to 0.677 and from 0.093 to 0.688, respectively. Eleven of these developed markers were successfully amplified for Z. piperitum, a related species.Conclusions:These microsatellite markers can be valuable tools for further genetic studies of Z. schinifolium, such as genetic resource conservation for maintaining breeding material and individual identification for breeding program improvement and variety management.

To reveal the genetic mechanisms behind drought tolerance, we attempted to identify the drought-responsive genes in Populus tremula var. davidiana (Dode) C.K. Schneid. and eight other species of Populus. Nine drought-responsive genes were assayed by single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping using TaqMan probe-based real-time PCR. A total of 346 SNPs were found from the 101 sequences of the nine genes. Among them, 57 primers were selected for SNP genotyping and haplotype determination. For the SNP genotyping, 56 assays were applicable to section Leuce Duby, 53 to section Aigeiros Duby, 50 to Populus maximowiczii Henry, and 52 to Populus simonii Carrière. The expectation maximization algorithm was implemented to determine haplotypes among species and sections. A total of 78 haploid types were estimated from nine drought-responsive gene loci, and the average number of haploid types per locus was 8.67. The analysis of genetic diversity revealed that P. tremula var. davidiana had substantial levels of genetic variation for the nine drought-responsive genes, which was higher than the eight other species. The means of observed number of alleles (NA) and heterozygosity (Ho) were 5.33 and 0.6609, respectively. Analysis of the genetic differentiation of P. tremula var. davidiana showed that 7.52% of genetic variation was among populations and the remaining was within a population.

Consumption of green tea has increased along with increasing concern regarding healthier lifestyles, and many brands of green tea are sold with a label indicating the region of Korea in which the tea was produced. However, there is little information on identifying the difference between the green tea cultivars according to the region they were grown. Here, 9 green tea cultivars collected from Hadong region, Bosung region, China and Japan were subjected to the STS-RFLP analysis. Using the coding and noncoding DNA regions of genes related to the phenylpropanoid pathway, such as phenylalanine ammonia-lyase, chalcone synthase and dihydroflavonol 4-reductase, we have identified the differences between green tea cultivars according to the region they were grown in. In this study, we showed a STS-RFLP method of green tea analysis which easily distinguished different kinds of tea using the primers as described. In addition, we identified that the green tea cultivars from Hadong and Bosung displayed a different profile when PAL intron was digested with Dde I, suggesting that a rapid authentication system for green tea cultivars grown in different regions in Korea is available.

-T. 2010. Comparative genomic analysis of Korean and Japanese green tea trees by using molecular markers. Can. J. Plant Sci. 90: 293Á298. Although green tea is one of the most popular beverages in many countries, the evolutionary origin of Korean and Japanese green tea trees has not been extensively elucidated in a molecular level. Lineages of the five Korean green tea populations and cultivars growing in Hadong area were examined in comparison with the six Japanese and one Chinese cultivars using phylogenetic analysis and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis with cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence (CAPS) markers. Molecular phylogenetic analyses using the non-transcribed region (NTS) region of the 5S rRNA suggested that the Korean Hadong cultivar was a minor variant of the Korean Hadong Cheon-nyeon wild tea plant, which has grown in the Hadong area more than 800 years. RFLP analysis with CAPS markers of the genes in phenylpropanoid biosynthetic pathway showed that all of the Korean Hadong wild tea populations and cultivar had unique polymorphism patterns, when compared with those of the six Japanese and one Chinese cultivars. In addition, Hadong Cheon-nyeon wild tea showed unique CAPS patterns in the phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) locus, indicating that the three CAPS markers in the PAL gene are sufficient to distinguish Hadong Cheon-nyeon wild tea from the others. Thus, our genetic analyses suggested that the Korean Hadong Cheon-nyeon wild tea plant might have evolved as a different lineage from the other wild green tea populations in the Hadong area or the Japanese tea cultivars. For personal use only.