Studies on the Isolation and RFLP Analysis of Poplar Chloroplast DNA

Chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) were prepared from five Poplar samples (two hybrids of Populus deltoides Bartr. CL.‘Lux'×P. deltoides Bartr. CL. ‘Harvard', two natural hybrids of P. deltoides and one sample of P. laurifolia) and analysed with five restriction enzymes. The results show that although the cpDNA diversity between Sect. Tacamahaca Spach. and Sect. Aigeiros Duby is low, they can be distinguished by using the restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLP) generated by EcoR I and BamH I. The RFLP generated by BamH I can also be used to distinguish the two natural hybrids of P. deltodes. So the analysis of Poplar cpDNA RFLP provides a molecular biological method for Poplar classification, cross breeding program and phylogenetic studies.