A bibliography and review of genetic diversity studies of African germplasm using protein and DNA markers

A review of the existing literature available on the bibliographic CD-ROM PlantGeneCD on the use of protein and molecular markers on plant material from sub-Saharan Africa was undertaken. The review showed that these molecular techniques have been used in a wide range of studies, from measurement of genetic diversity within single population to the elucidation of phylogenetic relationship among species in a genus or group of genera. The review revealed that 67% of the 146 studies examined used protein electrophoresis (58% isozymes, the rest mostly seed proteins), 20% used RFLPs, 8% RAPDs and 3% sequencing. Isozymes have been used for a whole range of applications, whereas electrophoresis of other proteins has mainly been used to study ecogeographic distribution of diversity in crops. RAPDs have been used particularly in the investigation of genetic relationship among accessions of a single species and phylogentic relationship among species. RFLPs of cpDNA have mostly been used at the interspecific level and nuclear markers at the intraspecific level. The studies covered most of the major crop species of Africa and their wild relatives, though important gaps remain, for example sweet potato. So-called “minor” crops were not well represented. Wild taxa not related to crops were also covered, in particular agroforestry and forest species.