Plant Biotechnology
  Molecular Biology and Genetics
Electronic Journal of Biotechnology ISSN: 0717-3458 Vol. 14 No. 3, Issue of May 15, 2011
© 2011 by Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso -- Chile Received August 31, 2010 / Accepted March 4, 2011
DOI: 10.2225/vol14-issue3-fulltext-4  
SHORT COMMUNICATION

Genetic diversity of Brassica oleracea var. capitata gene bank accessions assessed by AFLP

Zuzana Faltusová*1 · Ladislav Kučera1 · Jaroslava Ovesná1

1Department of Molecular Biology, Division of Plant Genetics, Breeding and Product Quality, Crop Research Institute, Czech Republic

*Corresponding author: faltusova@vurv.cz

Financial support: Ministry of Agriculture, Institutional research plan MZE0002700604- Systems for sustainable cultivation of agricultural crop plants and production of high-quality and safe foodstuffs, feedstuffs and raw materials (2009-2013, MZE).

Keywords: amplified fragment length polymorphism, Brassica oleracea var. capitata, cabbage, discriminatory power, genetic diversity.

Abstract    

The genetic diversity of 20 cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata, including sub.var. alba and rubra) cultivars and landraces from the Gene bank of Crop Research Institute was estimated using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) marker technology. Two cultivars of Brassica pekinensis (syn. Brassica rapa var. pekinensis) were used as outliers in the study. Thirty AFLP primer combinations produced a total of 1084 fragments. A total of 806 fragments, 364 (45%) of them polymorphic, were found across 20 Brassica oleracea var. capitata accessions. The accessions were clustered into two main groups. Special subgroups, reflecting place of origin, were observed within these groups. Ten selective primer pairs were found to be most informative because each of these uniquely identified all of the accessions used. Furthermore, two accessions of Brassica pekinensis were clearly differentiated from the Brassica oleracea var. capitata accessions. AFLP is an efficient tool for determination of genetic diversity of cabbage gene bank accessions.