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Maximum Parsimony Accurately Reconstructs Relationships of Elite Sorghum Lines

Plant Biology Division, S.R. Noble Foundation, Ardmore, OK 73402
Cargill Hybrid Seeds, P.O. Box 2, Aiken, TX 79221
Dep. of Plant and Soil Science, Texas Tech Univ., Lubbock, TX 79409
Indiana Crop Improvement Assoc. and Dep. of Agronomy, Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN 47907

^* Corresponding author (vierling{at}mace.cc.purdue.edu).

Parsimony analyses have been shown to be effective for estimating the branching sequences of evolution. Because pedigree estimation is equivalent to phylogeny estimation, our objective was to examine the usefulness of maximum parsimony in estimating relationships based on restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLP). Eighteen sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] lines, with known relationships were used in this study. Sorghum DNA was cut with various restriction enzymes and hybridized with 76 maize RFLP probes. The RFLP data were scored with a binary and multi-state coding system. In the binary coding system, each polymorphic band was a separate character. In the multi-state coding system, each probe-enzyme combination was a separate character. Binary characters were analyzed with Wagner, unrooted Dollo, and threshold (T = 2, = 3, = 4) methods and multi-state characters were treated as unordered. Wagner, unrooted Dollo, and threshold (T = 4) parsimony of binary characters correctly reconstructed known relationships. The Wagner and threshold (T = 4) models gave the highest degree of resolution. Parsimony analyses are effective tools for estimating plant breeding pedigrees and provide breeders with new tools for the analysis of germplasm variation, investigations of line origin, and determination of relationships in complex phylogenies or pedigrees.

Received for publication August 4, 1994.