Abstract

Celtis sinensis Persoon and Celtis formosana Hayata belong to the Ulmaceae family. These closely related species are native to Taiwan. In the present study, 120 samples from 18 natural habitats in Taiwan were studied. The genetic diversity of these two species was determined by comparing the inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions; these data were also used for the molecular identification of each species. Among the 71 bands amplified by PCR using nine ISSR primers, 51 exhibited polymorphism (71.8%). The population genetic variation analysis (POPGENE) revealed a genetic differentiation (Gst) of 0.3814 and a gene flow (Nm) of 0.8110. AMOVA showed that interspecies differences accounted for 57.38% of the variance (p < 0.0001). Despite their high morphological similarity, C. sinensis and C. formosana can be discriminated and classified into two independent species at the molecular level.

Key words: Celtis, genetic diversity, molecular discrimination, inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR), internal transcribed spacer (ITS).