Plant & Animal Genome VI Conference

P63

DNA PRIMERS DERIVED FROM SWEET CHERRY AND SOUR CHERRY GENOME REVEAL SIMPLE SEQUENCE REPEAT DNA POLYMORPHISM IN PEACH AND ALMOND: THEIR USE IN CULTIVAR IDENTIFICATION AND GERMPLASM ANALYSIS

1. Department of Pomology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616.
2. Department of Cell Biology, Baylor college of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030.
3. Department of Horticulture, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48823.
4. Horticulture Research International, Wellesbourne, UK.

DNA clones containing simple sequence repeats (SSRs) were identified from small insert random genomic DNA libraries of sweet cherry (Prunus avium) (KING) and sour cherry (Prunus cerasus) (IEZZONI). Oligonucleotide primers flanking the SSR region were designed and the amplification conditions optimized. These primers were used to amplify genomic DNAs from cultivars of peach (Prunus persica) and almond (Prunus dulcis). The amplified products were seperated on a 6% denaturing polyacrylamide sequencing gel and visualized by silver staining. The analysis of the results indicated that there is a high degree of homology of the SSR loci among the various Prunus species. Genetic segregation in a peach x almond F₂ population confirmed the Mendelian nature of all the SSR markers examined. Significant differences were noted in the extent of allelic diversity for these loci between the 50 peach cultivars and 60 almond cultivars studied. The genetic homologies of these SSR loci among the various Prunus species will be highly useful in developing syntenic genetic linkage maps and in studies relating to germplasm analysis.