Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

ESTIMATION OF GENETIC RELATIONSHIP AMONG RASPBERRY AND BLACKBERRY CULTIVARS USING THE RAPD MARKERS

V.G. Lebedev, V.E. Padutov, I.A. Pozdnyakov and K.A. Shestibratov

Abstract

The genus Rubus, which counts about 750 species, includes two economically important cultures, such as raspberries and blackberries. Russia takes the first place in the world for the production of raspberries. The RAPD analysis method was used for estimation of the phylogenetic relationships among raspberry varieties of Russian selection, as well as the varieties of blackberries and hybrids between them. In total, 19 genotypes of Rubus (raspberries, blackberries and their hybrids) with the colors of berries from yellow to black were evaluated. 18 RAPD primers were used for the genetic analysis. The identification of cultivars was carried out using 6 primers of 21 locus, 19 locus from which were polymorphic and two were monomorphic. It is determined that the level of genetic differentiation and the results of clustering of studied cultivars are related with their genotype characteristics and origin. The cluster analysis has showed the separation of the investigated genotypes into two strongly separated groups - four varieties of blackberry and all the rest. The hybrids were united into one single cluster with raspberry cultivars, which indicates their greater genetic similarity with raspberries than with blackberries. In general, the dendrogram of genetic relationship, which was constructed using RAPD markers, coincides with previous results on ISSR markers. The molecular marking method can be used to identify the genes, which are associated with the coloring of berries and the content of antioxidants in them.