Determination of Fallopia sect. Reynoutria taxa with molecular methods

In our research invasive alien knotweed taxa sampled in Slovenia were identified using selected molecular methods. The aim was to find out whether Slovene samples of Fallopia sect. Reynoutria or sect. Sermentosae taxa can be unambiguously distinguished on the basis of the combination of chosen chloroplast and nuclear DNA markers. We used PCR RFLP analysis of the trnK intron of chloroplast DNA in combination with amplification of nuclear, simple sequence repeat (SSR) or microsatellite loci, KW6, potentially diagnostic F. sachalinensis-specific marker. According to the predominantly maternal inheritance of cpDNA in crosses of Fallopia species and based on PCR RFLP profiles of the trnK intron of cpDNA we could also make assumptions about the direction of hybridization between Japanese and giant knotweed. We tried to find out if the situation on this phenomenon in Slovenia was the same as in Europe, where hybridization between these two invasive alien knotweed species is unidirectional, with F. japonica (var. japonica), in European flora present as cytologically and genetically unified female clone, as the female (maternal) parent