Screening of cytoplasmic DNA diversity between and within Lupinus mutabilis Sweet and Lupinus albus sensu lato by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP).

Seven populations and five mutant lines of the Andean lupin and four species from the section Albus were screened for their mitochondrial and chloroplast polymorphisms. For this purpose the RFLP method with EcoRI as a restriction enzyme was used. Lupinus luteus, Lupinus albus and Phaseolus vulgaris organellar clones as well as amplified fragments were used as probes. We found that mitochondrial probes were more suitable than chloroplast probes for identification of inter- and intra-specific variations within the examined material. Most mitochondrial probes differentiate the two species investigated. A high level of mitochondrial polymorphism was observed among the populations of L. mutabilis in contrast to monomorphism among the species in the section Albus. A limited polymorphism was detected between the mutant lines of L. mutabilis. We conclude from this study that the mitochondrial RFLP analysis is a valuable tool for identification of variability among Andean lupin populations.