DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO ANALYSIS OF RESTRICTION FRAGMENT PATTERNS OF CHLOROPLAST DNA AND PHYLOGENETIC-RELATIONSHIPS IN SILENE SECTION SIPHONOMORPHA (CARYOPHYLLACEAE)

Variation in restriction fragment patterns of chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) of six species of the Silene section Siphonomorpha Otth and one species of Silene sect. Elisanthe Fenzl has been investigated. The six species are assumed to represent the major lines of evolution in Silene sect. Siphonomorpha. Three different cpDNA data matrices were generated and analysed using Wagner and Dollo parsimony. The data of the first matrix consisted of 335 fragments shared by at least two species as inferred directly from ethidium bromide-stained restriction fragment patterns. The second data matrix consisted of 129 fragments shared by at least two species as found after hybridization of immobilized cpDNA restriction fragment patterns with eight different cloned lettuce cpDNA fragments. The third data matrix consisted of 19 genuine restriction site mutations. The results of the analysis of these three data matrices have been compared and evaluated. It is concluded that the direct analysis of restriction fragment patterns provides information on phylogenetic relationships, which corresponds to the information obtained with Southern hybridization, even in instances where cpDNA sequences have diverged too far to allow for direct analysis of restriction site mutations. The results of the analysis of the three matrices are used to present a phylogeny of the investigated species of Silene sect. Siphonomorpha.