IDENTIFICATION OF RANDOM CULTIVAR LINES OF TOMATO (LYCOPERSICON-ESCULENTUM) FROM GENE MARKERS DEVELOPED USING CELLULOSE-ACETATE ELECTROPHORESIS

Cellulose-acetate electrophoresis of individual tomato seeds was used to examine the potential of allozymes as gene markers to differentiate between a random selection of tomato cultivars. This study demonstrat ed that a large amount of allelic variation was present in forty-four randomly selected tomato cultivars and sufficient diversity existed to differentiate 92% of pairwise comparisons. This combined with the abi lity of individual seeds to provide enough sample for typing at up to 10 enzyme loci demonstrates that cellulose-acetate electrophoresis is an ideal tool for use in genetic improvement programs on tomato cultiv ars.