Use of Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism Markers for Celery Cultivar Identification

Abstract

DNA samples from 21 cultivars of celery (Apium graveolens L. var. dulce) were subjected to amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analysis. The most informative adapter combination was EcoRI-TaqI. All cultivars could be distinguished from each other by their unique fingerprints based on 73 markers. The program NTSYS grouped the cultivars in three main clusters according to their origin. The groupings observed agreed, with a few exceptions, with those expected by historical accounts and previous analyses based on biochemical and ramdomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers.