Different species of the genus Cucumis were characterized with molecular markers. Highly repetitive satellite DNA and different elements of the middle repetitive ribosomal RNA genes were used as hybridization probes. The RFLP analyses and hybridizations with different satellite DNAs and rDNA probes confirmed the division of the genus Cucumis into an African and an Asian subgenus and revealed that C. melo of the African subgenus is more closely related to C. sativus and C. hardwickii of the Asian subgenus than to C. anguria which also belongs to the African subgenus.

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Acta botanica neerlandica

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Koninklijke Nederlandse Botanische Vereniging

U. Zentgraf, K. King, & V. Hemleben. (1992). Repetitive sequences are valuable as molecular markers in studies of phylogenetic relationships within the genus Cucumis. Acta botanica neerlandica, 41(4), 397–406.