[Objective] The study aimed to investigate the genetic polymorphism of eighteen Lycium barbarum resources via nrDNA ITS sequencing. [Method] The genomic DNAs from Lycium barbarum leaves were isolated by modified CTAB method for PCR amplification on the nrDNA ITS region using specifically synthesized primers; the amplified fragments were cloned and sequenced, then the sequencing results were clustered. [Result] nrDNA ITS sequences of the tested eighteen Lycium barbarum were firstly obtained in the present study. For all eighteen tested materials, the variation range of whole ITS region was 559-634 bp, with an average of 612 bp; alignment analyses showed that the whole length of internal transcribed spacer (ITS1+ITS2) was 480 bp, within which there are 194 variation sites (accounting for 40.4%) and 286 conserved sites (accounting for 59.6%). The cluster results showed that the eighteen tested materials could be grouped into three classes. [Conclusion] Analysis of nrDNA ITS sequence may avail to identify the Lycium barbarum germplasm resources.
