Genetic diversity within Hibiscus dasycalyx, Hibiscus laevis and Hibiscus moscheutos utilizing ISSR techniques

Texas has several Hibiscus species: Hibiscus dasycalyx, Hibiscus laevis and Hibiscus moscheutos. Hybridization of Hibiscus dasycalyx with the other two species, as well as habitat destruction, threaten the survival of this native species. Thus the genetic characterization of this plant has become a high priority. In this study, two analytical techniques were attempted to determine the genetic diversity of H. dasycalyx in comparison with H. laevis and H. moscheutos. Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA, RAPD analysis, was attempted but was not able to reproducibly generate a fingerprint for all three species. The use of Inter-simple sequence repeat, (ISSR) analysis, was successful and therefore was used to generate a DNA fingerprint of H. dasycalyx, Hibiscus laevis and H. moscheutos (limited sample numbers). ISSR analysis is based on the theory of the presence of microsatellite regions between noncoding regions of genomic DNA. Utilization of polymerase chain reaction of the microsatellite repeat regions provided distinct DNA bands which were used in genetic analysis to determine the extent of difference between these 3 species. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...