Application of primers derived from barley alpha-amylase genes to the identification of cereals by PCR

PCR primers based upon sequences from barley alpha-amylase genes were investigated for use in cereal species and variety identification. Eight primers were designed to explore regions of possible polymorphism in this gene family in maize, barley, sorghum, rice, oat and wheat. Some primers gave products characteristic of the species allowing distinctions between oat and wheat and between barley and wheat. However, in general these primers were not useful for species identification because of intra-species polymorphism. The primer combination BAS1/BASZ was the most useful combination for distinctions within species, showing high levels of polymorphism for sorghum and maize varieties, while the primer combination BSW3/BAS2 appeared useful for variety discrimination in rice and maize. PCR with these primers should prove valuable for variety identification in sorghum, maize and rice. In other cases however, individual pairs of Q-amylase primers did not express sufficiently high levels of intra-species polymorphism to be considered for variety fingerprinting or were only useful for identification within small sets of samples