Segregation of AFLP markers in <i>Betula pendula</i> (roth)

The generation and segregation of AFLP (amplified fragment length polymorphism) markers were studied in European while birch. The recently published technique is based on PCR amplification of restriction fragments from digested total DNA by utilizing known oligomers (adapters) linked to the ends of the fragments. PCR primers partially complementary to the adapters and the restriction site are used to create the marker bands. In the present work EcoRI or TaqI were used for digestion.The primers had three arbitrary bases at the 3' ends for selective amplification of only a subset of the initial fragments. Each primer produced about 40 marker bands, of which about 10 in each case were found polymorphic between the parents of the full-sib progeny trees studied. When the segregation of alleles in the progeny was studied at 31 polymorphic loci, 29 of these were confirmed to express Mendelian ratios. The results indicate that the AFLP markers are very suitable for fingerprinting and genetic marker mapping in the birch. We found them superior to RAPD markers particularly in repeatability. The AFLP technique also produced substantially more polymorphic loci per PCR reaction. It was possible to use an automated DNA sequencer for marker band scanning after initial evaluation of the marker profiles on agarose gel