Detection of genetic diversity among populations of sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.) by AFLPs

The high degree of polymorphism of AFLPs provides an efficient system for i dentification and genome analysis of sweet cherry (Prunus avium) cultivars and selections. The cultivars of sweet cherry have usually been characteriz ed by assessment of phenotypic and pomological traits. AFLP markers were em ployed to identify 38 sweet cherry accessions and estimate the genetic dive rsity among this material. Ten of 18 tested primer combinations were inform ative with up to 80 bands per primer combination. Seven to 33% of the ampli fied bands were polymorphic depending upon primer combination. All cultivar s and selections tested could be clearly identified. The objective of this work was to demonstrate the usefulness of molecular markers in revealing th e genetic diversity among different sweet cherry genotypes.