DNA-FINGERPRINTING OF STRAWBERRY (FRAGARIA X ANANASSA) CULTIVARS USING RANDOMLY AMPLIFIED POLYMORPHIC DNA (RAPD) MARKERS

Forty-one of the major strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa Duch.) cultivar s grown in the United States and Canada were examined for RAPD (random ly amplified polymorphic DNA) marker polymorphisms using 10mer primers (>50% GC content). A set of 10 primers produced 15 polymorphic fragme nts ranging in size between 450 and 1200 bp, which were more than suff icient to distinguish among all tested cultivars. Ten of the markers d erived from seven primers were absolutely required for distinguishing the cultivars. A DNA fingerprinting table was constructed based on the se results. In addition, similarity coefficients were calculated based on RAPD marker data and a dendogram was constructed using the unweigh ted pair group method of arithmetic averages (UPGMA). These results we re compared with known pedigree data for the cultivars. Our results de monstrate that RAPD markers can be used effectively for strawberry cul tivar identification.