Molecular characterization of six released tomato varieties using Inter Simple Sequence Repeat markers

Abstract

Inter Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR) markers were used for identification of six tomato varieties. Out of 20 ISSR primers tested, 12 ISSR primers produced 118 detectable fragments, of which 57 (55.9%) were polymorphic across the varieties. Fourteen unique bands specific to the varieties were detected. These may be used as variety specific probes for identification purposes. Genetic relationships among these varieties were evaluated by generating a similarity matrix based on the Dice coefficient and the Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic Average (UPGMA) dendogram. Both molecular and morphological markers may be used for assessment of the tomato germplasm as selecting genotypes for the variety improvement programme.