'Plant Breeding: Sustaining the Future' Abstracts of the XVIth EUCARPIA Congress, Edinburgh, Scotland, 10-14 September 2001 CHLOROPLAST DNA STUDIES TO SUPPORT WAXFLOWER BREEDING X. MA, J.A. CONSIDINE, G. YAN Plant Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Hwy, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia

Chloroplast DNA variation was studied in 18 Chamelaucium uncinatum and C. megalopetalum (Myrtaceae) genotypes using PCR-RFLP.  Five chlorotypes were observed among the two species.  Phylogenetic analysis suggested that intermediate types exist between the two species and one distinct chlorotype (MB05) was observed.  Chloroplast DNA inheritance was studied in 17 intraspecific hybrids and 33 interspecific hybrids.  Maternal cp DNA inheritance was observed in all cases.  Our results support a statistically 90% maternal cpDNA inheritance in waxflowers.  These results are being used to validate the parentage of natural and man-made hybrids between the two species.  Hybridity can be examined at an early seedling stage using the cpDNA markers developed in this program.