Assessment of geographic variation by RAPD markers among Italian open-pollinated progenies of Populus alba L.

Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis wasapplied to evaluate variation among provenances of white poplar(Populus alba L.) collected indifferent geographic areas in Italy. Fifteen decamer oligonucleotidesamplified a total of 71 distinct fragments of which 57(80% of the total observed) were polymorphic among53 plants of white poplar. Among provenances, the highest degree ofpolymorphism was detected in the population from Sinni river(62%), while the lowest level was recorded in thepopulation from Arno river (42%). Cluster(UPGMA) analysis was performed on the RAPD data and itdifferentiated the analysed plants in three distinct groupscorresponding to the Apennine, Southern and Northern Italian areas.The RAPD clusters were congruent with groups based on phenologicaltraits.