Genetic diversity in white clover and its progenitors as revealed by DNA fingerprinting

The genetic diversity and ancestral relationships of a number of Trifolium species was revealed by using the amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) and the random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers. Both markers produced few species-specific markers. Using distance and parsimony methods, in NTSYS-pc and PAUP software programs, we clearly differentiated the accessions of white clover from other closely related progenitors. The phylogenetic trees, produced by PAUP, also reinforced the close affinity of T. nigrescens and the allopolyploid white clover in support of former views that this diploid species could have been the donor of one of two genomes of the allotetraploid T. repens. In addition, the dendrograms, produced by NTSYS-pc, also indicated close affinity of T. nigrescens and T. occidentale to the accessions of T. repens. These data is congruent with karyological and phylogenetic affinities between the white clover and T. occidentale. The relationships between the examined accessions, in the T. repens gene pool, may be regarded to indicate the presence of shared alleles between T. repens, T. occidentale and T. uniflorum. Further, T. occidentale showed close phylogenetic relations to T. pallescens.