Antioxidant properties and structured biodiversity in a diverse set of wild cranberry clones

Wild germplasm with elevated antioxidants are a useful resource for using directly and in a breeding program. In a study with 136 wild clones and two cranberry cultivars, phenolic, flavonoid and anthocyanin contents varied 2.79, 2.70 and 17.46 times, respectively. The antioxidant activity ranged from 1.17 +/- 0.01 to 2.53 +/- 0.05 mg/g and varied 2.16 times. Seventy-five of wild clones and the cultivar Franklin were grouped into five distinct classes by molecular structure analysis using inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR), expressed sequence tag-simple sequence repeat (EST-SSR) and EST-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) markers. Grouping with DNA markers did not coincide with that of based on antioxidant properties. Present study indicates that genetic diversity analysis combined with antioxidant properties of wild germplasm play a significant role for conservation and in selecting diverse genotypes for future berry crop improvement.