Mitochondrial DNA variation in foxtail millet, Setaria italica (L.) P. Beauv.

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) wascharacterized by RFLPs in 94 strains offoxtail millet, Setaria italica (L.)P. Beauv. Three RFLP patterns wereobserved by using rice atp6 as aprobe, and were designated as types I-III. Difference between types I and II seems tobe attributed to recombination between twoatp6 genes. In East and SoutheastAsia and Afghanistan, both of types I andII were found, while type I was predominantin India, Central Asia and Europe. InChina, type III was also found. Chinesestrains showed higher gene diversity thanthose from other regions. This resultcoincided the previous studies on isozymesand nuclear RFLPs.