Molecular markers and their applications in wheat breeding

In recent years, considerable emphasis has been placed on the development o f molecular markers to be used for a variety of objectives. This review att empts to give an account of different molecular markers-restriction fragmen t length polymorphisms (RFLPs), random amplified polymorphic DNAs (RAPDs), sequence-tagged sites (STS), DNA amplification fingerprinting (DAF), amplif ied fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs) and microsatellites (STMS) - curr ently available for genome mapping and for tagging different traits in whea t. Other markers, including microsatellite-primed polymerase chain reaction (MP-PCR), expressed sequence tags (ESTs) and single nucleotide polymorphis ms (SNPs) are also discussed. Recent information on synteny in cereal genom es, marker-assisted selection, marker validation and their relevance to cer eal breeding in general and wheat breeding in particular are also examined.