Oligonucleotide fingerprinting of tomato DNA

Abstract

Abstract Hin fl ‐digested DNA samples of wild and cultivated species of tomato were hybridized in gel to different oligonucleotide probes complementary to simple‐sequence repeats. All motifs tested i.e. (GATA) 4 , (GGAT) 4 , (CA) 8 . (CAG) 5 , (GTG) 5 , (GAAGTGGG) 2 and (CCTA) 4 , produced multilocus fingerprints in all tomato species and cultivars. The extent of inter‐ and intraspecific polymorphism of the banding patterns varied considerably between different probes, with (GGAT) 4 , (CCTA) 4 , (GATA) 4 and (CA) 8 showing a much higher discriminatory potential than the other probes. Cluster analysis of band‐sharing data yielded dendrograms which were consistent with the known history of tomato cultivation. (GATA) 4 was also successfully used for purity testing of breeding lines, as well as for analysing an F 1 progeny of a cross between two lines.