RANDOM AMPLIFIED POLYMORPHIC DNA VARIATION IN THE EGGPLANT, SOLANUM-MELONGENA L (SOLANACEAE)

RAPD analysis was carried out on 52 accessions of Solanum melongena (eggplant) and related weedy forms known as ''insanum''. Twenty-two primers amplified 130 fragments. Solanum melongena exhibited 117 of the fragments, all of which were also present in insanum. Insanum displayed an additional 13 fragments not found in S. melongena. Overall, the insanum accessions were more diverse than those of S. melongena. The calculated similarity between them was 0.947. The RAPD results were closely concordant with the results of an electrophoretic isozyme survey performed on the same accessions. The concordance of the results shows that even though S. melongena and insanum are highly diverse morphologically, it is no longer appropriate to distinguish them taxonomically.