A contribution to the classification of evergreen azalea cultivars located in the Lake Maggiore area (Italy) by means of AFLP markers

Abstract

The amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) technique was employed to assess the genetic conformity within a gene pool of evergreen azaleas. Ninety-three genotypes grown in historical gardens and nurseries of the Lake Maggiore area (Northern Italy), locally classified in the groups Indica, Japonica and Amoena, 44 reference cultivars of the four more or less universally recognized groups Belgian, Hirado, Kurume and Satsuki, and 40 species and species accessions that most concurred in the origin of the reference groups were included. Aims of the study were to define the genetic profiles of the Italian accessions and to provide useful information for their classification and pedigree reconstruction. Ordination analyses were used to evaluate if the AFLP technique can be applied to establish phylogenetic relationships and to investigate the DNA-based relatedness within the Italian gene pool and between the latter and the reference one. The results regarding the Italian accessions were compared with morphological data by means of Mantel's test. Assignment tests both on the level of the groups and on individual plant level for the reference and Italian genotypes were applied to further evaluate the relatedness of the groups or individual accessions. Results demonstrated that the AFLP technique together with morphological characterization can contribute to depict the phylogeny of the evergreen azalea. Comparing the reference and Italian genotypes, conclusions about the classification of the evergreen azalea cultivars located in the Lake Maggiore area were drawn.

Hydroponic Screening for Iron Deficiency Tolerance in Evergreen Azaleas

“…A similar gradation in iron shortage responses among plants is usually observed when a large number of genotypes is tested (Preil and Ebbinghaus, 1994;Alcántara et al, 2012). Iron deficiency responses appeared to relate closely to parentages and natural environment adaptation differences (Scariot et al, 2007). Most likely, the wild species R. macrosepalum, R. scabrum, and R. ripense (series Scabra) and R. eriocarpum (series Tsutsusi) are iron deficiency-tolerant.…”

Shaping of genetic structure along Pleistocene and modern river systems in the hydrochorous riparian azalea, Rhododendron ripense (Ericaceae)

“…3). Because of the low levels of genetic divergence between R. ripense and R. macrosepalum and the finding that the lineage of R. ripense originated from R. macrosepalum both indicated recent speciation of R. ripense (Scariot et al, 2007a, 2007b), it is unlikely that the Honshu and Shikoku populations diverged genetically before the late Pleistocene and that the crossing of colonization routes from these populations caused admixtures of clustered individuals within the populations located farthest upstream and led to the close phylogenetic relationships between them. In addition, genetic analyses of several intergenetic spacers in the chloroplast DNA showed that there was little intraspecific variations (two haplotypes identified by single mutation) in the sequences of 52 R. ripense samples collected from Sanin, western Shikoku and ancient Kitan River regions (Kobayashi et al, 2008).…”

“…Although the habitat requirements of R. ripense and R. macrosepalum differ greatly, their morphological characteristics are clearly distinguishable from those of other related species (Chamberlain and Rae, 1990). In addition, the molecular phylogenetic relationships within subgenus Tsutsuji that have been inferred from amplified fragment‐length polymorphisms, sequence‐tagged microsatellite sites, and expressed sequence tag markers also revealed low levels of genetic divergence between these two species and suggest that the lineage of R. ripense diverged from R. macrosepalum relatively recently (Scariot et al, 2007a, b). Although genetic divergence between these two species is low, R. ripense differs R. macrosepalum in terms of the narrowness of the leaves, amount of the shoots with depressed hair, and number of stamens (Chamberlain and Rae, 1990).…”

Effects of 5-Azacytidine and Gibberellic Acid on Flower Development of Azalea

“…Azaleas are among the most important ornamental shrubs in Europe (Scariot, 2007), America and East Asia, which contain thousands of cultivars with various flower morphotypes and flowering patterns. In China, it could be chased back to the Tang Dynasty when our ancestors started to enjoy its beauty (Zhou, 2013a).…”