ISHS Acta Horticulturae 546: International Symposium on Molecular Markers for Characterizing Genotypes and Identifying Cultivars in Horticulture
DNA FINGERPRINTS FOR PELARGONIUM CULTIVAR IDENTIFICATION |
| Authors: | C. Lesur, A. Becher, K. Wolff, K. Weising, K. Steinmetz, D. Peltier, S. Boury |
| Keywords: | Pelargonium X. hortorum, Pelargonium peltatum, Geranium, AFLP, RAPD, STMS, microsatellite |
| Abstract:
The project presented here aims at proving the usefulness of DNA fingerprints in order to protect Pelargonium breeders’rights. Indeed, the traditional method of detecting the fraudulent propagation of ornamental cultivars requires much time, since it is based on a phenotypic analysis of plants grown to the flowering stage. In order to select the most appropriate technique for Pelargonium cultivar identification, we tested seven different molecular methods which provide genetic fingerprints in plants : RFLP, RAPD, SCAR, STMS (PCR-amplification of microsatellite motives), Oligofingerprinting, InterSSR and AFLP. Our main results were as follows : - Only the RAPD, the AFLP and the STMS (microsatellite) techniques distinguished each of the 43 cultivars studied (except 3 mutant cultivars). RAPD patterns were more reproducible than expected between our laboratories (using a common protocol, major bands were generally identical). - The STMS technique provided very reproducible and easy to analyse fingerprints, whereas the RAPD and the AFLP techniques provided some ambiguous markers. - The level of genomic polymorphism was found low in Pelargonium (little genetic distances between existing cultivars), which is a major difficulty for defining Essentially Derived Varieties (EDV) and for using molecular markers in the DUS test (Distinctness-Uniformity-Stability). - The cultivars belonging to each of the 2 species, Pelargonium peltatum and P. X. hortorum, formed 2 distinct genetic groups. We are currently working on the fingerprinting of protected Pelargonium cultivars, using the STMS technology, in order to build a database of DNA fingerprints useful for detecting the illegal propagation of cultivars. | |
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