Genuineness of Morinda officinalis How germplasm inferred from ITS sequences variation of nuclear ribosomal DNA

PCR sequencing ITS genes methods were used to assess the genetic diversity of Morinda officinalis How different populations.  The sequence of Morinda officinalis ITS gene was 567 bp in length, and the content of G/C was 64.5%.  In this study, 17 haplotypes were obtained, which were at a high level of branching, and the haplotypes of Guangdong population showed to be the expansion origin.  The result of the analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) also showed that the percentage of variation among populations (56.65%) was greater than that within a population (43.35%).  The F_ST value was 0.566 5, and the genetic divergence among populations was significant.  Mantel test results also indicated that the level of geneflow was positively correlated with geographic distances (R² = 0.721 1).  The result showed a good correlation between genotype and geographic distribution of Morinda officinalis, and ITS gene sequencing could be useful molecular method for the genuineness and phylogeography of Morinda officinalis.