USE OF RAPD FOR THE STUDY OF DIVERSITY WITHIN PLANT GERMPLASM COLLECTIONS

As part of the development of a molecular toolkit for the study of div ersity within large plant germplasm collections, RAPD technology has b een applied to accessions of rice (Oryza saliva) obtained from the maj or world collection held at IRRI (the International Rice Research Inst itute) which supplies germplasm to breeders. Methods for the speedy ex traction of DNA representative of a rice accession, its amplification by PCR to reveal reproducible products, and the analysis of the bandin g data using numerical techniques have been established. The biologica l meaningfulness of RAPD data has also been demonstrated by reference to previous work on classification and crossability.