ABSTRACT:

Nucleotide sequences in two non-coding regions of chloroplast DNA, tRNA inter- geneic spacer CtrnL-trnF) and ribosomal protein gene (rp116 and rpll4) linker, were determined for 13 accessions of taro, Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott, C. gigantea Hook. f, Alocasia macrorrhiza (L.) G. Don, A. odora (Roxb.) K. Koch, Xanthosoma sagittifolium Schott and Schismatoglottis spp. using polymerase chain reaction (peR) and a direct sequence method of the amplified DNA. Sequence variations of nucleotide substitution, insertion or deletion and slippage were observed at 55 positions in the trnL-trnF inter-genic spacer of 395 bp length; most of the changes were found among genera but not within species. There was no sequence differentiation in the rpllinker among the accessions in this study. Phylogenetic trees determined by the neighbor-joining and maximum parsimony methods using the sequence variations in the trnL-trnF intergenic spacer showed distinct evolutionary lineage of Schismatogloftis, Xanthosoma and Colocasial Alocasia; however, the relationships within Colocasia/ Alocasia taxa were not clearly defined.