Analysis of Genetic Diversity Among 'Misket' Apple Clones Using AFLP, SSR and RAPD Markers

Knowledge of genetic relationship among genotypes is an important concern for utilization of germplasm resources in breeding. The need for knowledge in local apple cultivars is increasing and molecular marker analysis has contributed to understanding of the apple genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationship between genotypes. Three different DNA-based techniques, random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), simple sequence repeat (SSR) and amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) were used for detecting genetic variation among the 30 local 'Misket' apple genotypes. A total of 423 bands amplified and 205 polymorphic band were obtained with three marker techniques. Thirty RAPD primers amplified 207 bands, of which 91 were polymorphic (40.1%), 10 SSR primers produced 33 bands and 26 of them were polymorphic (78.78%) and 5 AFLP combinations amplified 183 bands of which 88 were polymorphic (48.08%). The average numbers of polymorphic marker per primer combination were 17.6, 3.03 and 2.6 for AFLP, RAPD and SSR respectively. Our results indicate that SSR was less informative in characterizing closely related 'Misket' apple genotypes, compared with RAPD and AFLP markers. AFLP seemed to best suited for evaluating the genetic relationship among the apple genotypes. Closely related genotypes may require more than one marker technique. The findings will be useful to identify and evaluate the local growing apple genetic resources.