Plant cultivar identification using DNA analysis

The identification of cultivars is an important aspect of plant production systems and is central to the protection of intellectual property rights th rough Plant Breeders' Rights(PBR). The description of cultivars has been ba sed on the analysis of a range of morphological and physiological character s that allow a claim for distinctness of a Mew cultivar to be made against a suite of pre-existing cultivars. The analysis of cultivars at the DNA lev el provides a potentially extremely powerful method for identifying plant c ultivars. In this paper, we discuss the application of a range of DNA marke r technologies to three points in the PBX registration process. First, the analysis of the genetic distances between a candidate cultivar and the exis ting pool of cultivars in order to define a set of comparison cultivars. Se condly, the contribution of DNA marker technology to the generation of a de scription of the cultivar for PER registration, and thirdly, the use of DNA markers to investigate and resolve the identity of cultivars in cases wher e infringement of a PBX is claimed. Molecular markers for wheat illustrate the points. The future integrated use of DNA markers in cultivar identifica tion in agricultural production systems is discussed.