Phylogenetic relationship of dwarf tree peony cultivars by AFLP analysis

AFLP technique was used to elucidate the systematic relationships among four Chinese wild species and 26 dwarf and tall types of tree peony cultivars.Eight AFLP primer combinations(M+3 and P+3) were used to produce(1 133) recognizable bands,among which 948 bands were polymorphic.The percentage of polymorphic bands was 84%,suggesting abundant genetic diversity among Paeonia sect.Moutan.Clustering analysis showed that the systematic relationships among the four wild species and cultivars were in the order of P.ostii,P.qiui,P.rockii and P.jishanensis from close to far.Among these species,the closest relationship was observed between P.jishanensis and P.qiui.The clustering results based on DNA bands among the cultivars showed that some dwarf and tall peony types clustered separately and some of both also clustered each other.Genetic clustering classification of different resemble coefficients was not consisted with that based on the plant height.However,the two clustering results were identical among the cultivars with same plant height and similar phenotypes.