Development of Citrus Cultivar Identification by CAPS Markers and Parentage Analysis

Abstract

The establishment of a method for citrus cultivar identification is required to protect domestic citrus producers and breeders’rights. In order to establish a scientific method for citrus cultivar identification with marked reliability, it is necessary to develop appropriate DNA markers. Accordingly, this study aimed to establish such a method based on CAPS markers to realize expedient cultivar identification. Thirty-three citrus cultivars and breeding lines were genotyped using nine CAPS markers and the results obtained. The data constitute a source of basic information for the identification of domestic citrus cultivars. Using the genotyping data, we computed the smallest marker set that can distinguish between all 33 cultivars and breeding lines. This showed that all cultivars and breeding lines could be identified using eight CAPS markers. The genotyping data were also used to perform parentage analysis of seven cultivars bred in Japan. This analysis revealed that ‘Shiranuhi’ was not the male parent of ‘Kanpei’. Further analysis strongly suggested that ponkan was the male parent of ‘Kanpei’.