Title: Fingerprinting and Genetic Stability of Rubus Using Molecular Markers

Two studies used DNA markers to assess their usefulness in germplasm identification and evaluation of genetic stability in four cryopreserved Rubus accessions that were stored for over 10 years in liquid nitrogen. In the first study, 12 robust Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) markers were developed from two microsatellite-enriched libraries of ‘Meeker ’ raspberry and ‘Marion ’ blackberry. Of the 70 and 78 SSR-containing sequences identified, four SSR markers were obtained from the ‘Meeker ’ library and eight from that of ‘Marion’. These twelve genomic SSRs and one Expressed Sequence Tag- (EST)-SSR designed from an (AT)6-containing R. idaeus sequence (AF292369) from Genbank were used for fingerprinting 48 raspberry and 48 blackberry cultivars stored at the Repository. The SSR markers developed in Rubus were highly polymorphic. Twelve SSRs generated 96 alleles in raspberries and 177 in blackberries. These markers distinguished between the raspberries and blackberries except in ‘Logan ’ and ‘Boysen ’ clones. Neighbor Joining cluster analysis based on the proportion of shared allele distance using 13 SSRs separated the cultivars into two main groups: the raspberries and th