Resumen

PARDO, Adriana; HERNANDEZ, Alexander  y  MENDEZ, Naileth. Molecular characterization of seven garlic clones (Allium sativum  L.) revealed by RAPD markers. Bioagro [online]. 2009, vol.21, n.2, pp.81-86. ISSN 1316-3361.

Garlic is widely grown by its culinary and pharmacological applications; however, its asexual or apomictic reproduction makes seed certification to be difficult, and consequently, growers use bulbils or cloves with unknown origin for commercial propagation. In consideration, characterization of the genotypes used by growers is needed to determine their variability and genetic basis and thus create a germplasm bank and to initiate breeding programs to produce certificated seeds for commercial use. This study aims to standardize a protocol for molecular characterization in seven garlic clones from producer areas of Lara and Trujillo States, by using morphologic and molecular (RAPD) markers. A grouping UPGMA analysis was used with a dendrogram besides principal components analysis. The RAPD analysis separated the clones in three groups: Group I included those clones collected in ‘Agua Negra’ (AN-1 and AN-2), and ‘El Páramo’ (PAL-1 and PAL-2); in Group II clones from ‘Bojó’ (BO-1) and ‘Cubiro’ (CUB-1), and in Group III the clone UCLA-1 from Carache, Trujillo State. Results suggested that clones AN-1 and AN-2, showing identical electrophoretic profiles, constitute a similar genotype but they have been distributed and grown as different materials by growers. Clones PAL-1, PAL-2, CUB-1 and BO-1 showed 83 % similarity, although their agronomical performance is different probably due to environmental factors influence.

Palabras clave : Biotechnology; RAPD technique; plant propagation; UPGMA.