Analysis of genetic diversity in Portuguese Ceratonia siliqua L. cultivars using RAPD and AFLP markers

摘要

Although carob (Ceratonia siliqua L.) is of great economic importance little is still known about the patternof genetic variation within this species. Morphological characteristics based on 31 fruit and seeds ofcontinuous characters determinant for agro-industrial uses, were compared with RAPD and AFLPmarkers for assessing genetic distances in 68 accessions of carob trees, from different cultivars, varietiesand eco-geographic regions of Algarve. Eighteen selected RAPD primers applied to the 68 accessionsproduced a total of 235 fragments ranging from 200 to 2000 bp, of which 93 (40%) were polymorphic.Four AFLP selective primer combinations generated a total of 346 amplification fragments of which 110were polymorphic. The average level of polymorphism based on four primer combinations was 31.8%.The phenetic trees based on RAPD and AFLP analyses gave high co-phenetic correlation values, and werefound to be consistent in general with the analysis of morphological data, carried out on the sameaccessions. A number of RAPD and AFLP markers were found to be diagnostic for ‘Canela’ cultivar and 13wild ungrafted trees.