Taxonomic relationship betweenOryza minuta andO. officinalis based on AP-PCR analysis

The arbitrarily primed polymerase chain reaction (AP-PCR) technique was used to detect polymorphisms in genomic DNA fromOryza minuta, O. officinalis, and related rice species. The results show that the genetic distance betweenO. minuta andO. officinalis is much higher than that between two known species,O. sativa andO. rufipogon, showing thatO. minuta andO. officinalis should be classified as two different species in genusOryza, and that the AP-PCR technique can be used as a powerful tool for studying taxonomic relationships among related species, and even subspecies. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China Yi Qingming: born in Apr. 1938, Professor