INTERPRETATION OF RANDOMLY AMPLIFIED POLYMORPHIC DNA MARKER DATA FOR FINGERPRINTING SWEET-POTATO (IPOMOEA-BATATAS L) GENOTYPES

In this paper we present a method for the generation of randomly ampli fied polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers for sweet potato. These were appli ed to produce genetic fingerprints of six clonal cultivars and to esti mate genetic distances between these cultivars. The level of polymorph ism within the species was extremely high. From the 36-decamer random primers used, 170 fragments were amplified, of which 132 (77.6%) were polymorphic. Ten primers resulted in no detected amplification. Of the remaining 26 primers for which amplification was achieved, only one d id not reveal polymorphism. Six primers used alone enabled the discrim ination of all six genotypes. Pattern analysis, which employed both a classification and ordination method, enabled the grouping of cultivar s and the identification of primers which gave greatest discrimination among the cultivars.