Study of genetic diversity in potato cultivars using PCR analysis of organelle DNA

The genetic diversity of 98 potato cultivars of Russian and foreign breeding was studied using of PCR with organelle-specific primers. The polymorphism of both plastid (atpE, trnG/trnR) and mitochondrial (rps10, atp6) loci was revealed. Eight different haplotypes were detected in the sample of cultivars studied. Comparatively low polymorphism of organelle DNA in the potato cultivars was demonstrated: most cultivars (91 or 92.9%) possessed only two haplotypes (I and II); 62 cultivars of them had the same 'cultural' cytoplasmic type (haplotype I). The breeding cultivars of the Russian and foreign origin did not differ from each other in frequency of basic haplotypes.