Genetic Characterization and Relatedness among Cherry Cultivars in a Germplasm Bank by Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA Analysis

Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis was performed on 38 cultivars of cherry (Prunus avium L.) grown in the Jerte Valley, Cáceres, Spain. Thirty five selected decamer primers produced 69 reproducible polymorphic amplification products. The degree of polymorphism detected made possible the identification of all the cultivars by combining the RAPD banding patterns of only seven primers: OPK-08, OPQ-14, OPR-09, OPS-19, OPX-02, OPX-15 and OPZ-13. Eleven unique markers allowed identification of nine cultivars while 15 cultivars were identified by unique banding patterns. A similarity matrix derived from the RAPD amplification products generated by all the primers was obtained using the index of similarity of Jaccard. The similarity coefficients among cultivars ranged from 0.27 to 0.81 with an average of 0.50. A dendrogram based on UPGMA clustering method was constructed using the similarity matrix. The dendrogram showed a good correlation between the clustering of cherry cultivars and their geographic origin, especially revealing a stronger genetic proximity between some of the most characteristic cultivars of the Jerte Valley. This result supports the autochthonous origin hypothesis for these cultivars