IDENTIFICATION AND DISCRIMINATION OF 8 GREEK GRAPE CULTIVARS (VITIS-VINIFERA L.) BY RANDOM AMPLIFIED POLYMORPHIC DNA MARKERS

Fifteen decamer primers of an arbitrary nucleotide sequence were used to amplify genomic DNA by polymerase chain reaction (PCR-RAPD) in orde r to identify and discriminate between 8 cultivars of Vitis vinifera L ., grown at the Island of Crete. Over 140 reproducible polymorphic fra gments were generated by this method. Each grape cultivar showed a uni que banding pattern for more than 5 of the primers used. Herefrom, the degree of genetic similarity was calculated and the dendrogram of the 8 cultivars was constructed. The results show that RAPD is a reliable and very useful method for the identification and genomic analysis of grape cultivars.