Differentiation of Vaccinium Cultivars and Wild Clones Using RAPD Markers

The potential use of the random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) technique for characterization and assessment of genetic relatedness was investigated in 13 wild cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon Ait) clones collected from Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. RAPD markers were also used to distinguish representatives of three different Vaccinium species. Twenty-two decamer arbitrary primers yielded informative, reproducible and polymorphic banding patterns in 13 cranberry clones and produced a total of 134 bands, of which 114 were polymorphic. The UPGMA cluster analysis separated the clones into two main groups: Cluster I of seven and Cluster II of six with 0.62 to 0.91 and 0.50 to 0.77 Nei and Li’s similarity range, respectively. In another experiment, a subset of eight primers was used and the RAPD markers discriminated the three Vaccinium species: cranberry, lowbush blueberry (V. angustifolium Ait) and lingonberry (V. vitis-idaea L). The RAPD polymorphisms will be useful for Vaccinium genotype differentiation and the technology should be valuable for the maintenance of germplasm banks and the efficient choice of parents in the current Vaccinium germplasm improvement program.