Analysis of genetic diversity of apple cultivars using RAPD and SSR markers.

In this study, random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and simple sequence repeat (SSR) analyses were utilized for evaluation of genetic diversity of 34 Korean bred and introduced apple cultivars. Thirty-seven RAPD primers detected a total of 193 polymorphic bands (36.2%) with an average of 5.6. Twenty-six SSR markers generated a total of 112 alleles with an average 4.3 alleles per locus. Genetic diversity of 34 cultivars estimated by polymorphic information content (PIC) value ranged from 0.536 (CH03d12) to 0.952 (CH04c06) with an average of 0.843. By UPGMA (unweighted pair-group method arithmetic average) cluster analysis with 305 polymorphic bands, the apple cultivars were classified four groups by similarity index of 0.640. The ‘Seokwang’ was included in group I. Group II consisted of 12 cultivars which have ‘Golden Delicious’ in their pedigree, with the exception of ‘Spur Earliblaze’ and ‘Jonathan’. Group III included 13 cultivars which have usually ‘Fuji’ in their ancestry and bud sport of ‘Fuji’ cultivars. Group IV consisted of 8 cultivars with ‘Hongro’, ‘Gamhong’, and ‘Saenara’. Similarity values among the tested apple cultivars ranged from 0.529 to 0.987, and the average similarity value was 0.647. The similarity index was the highest (0.987) between ‘Hwarang’ and ‘Danhong’, and the lowest (0.529) between ‘Seokwang’ and ‘Hwarang’. The genetic relationships among the 34 studied apple cultivars were basically consistent with the known pedigree.