Abstract
Apple (Malus × domestica) is economically one of the most important fruit crops in the world, with several thousand described varieties of which only a small number is commercially grown. Characterisation of genetic resources of apple is usually based on morphological traits, which are modulated by environmental and ecological factors, and for this reason pomological description needs to be complemented by molecular approaches. Ten accessions assigned to the apple cultivars ‘Antonovka’, ‘Laxton’s Superb’ and ‘Worcester Pearmain’ were derived from several germplasm collections in Europe and analysed at 14 variable microsatellite loci. In order to verify their assignment, the molecular genetic data were compared to a database containing molecular genetic profiles of reference varieties. Within the five accessions of different origin maintained as ‘Antonovka’, two genotypes were identified, which could be assigned as the common ‘Antonovka’ and ‘Antonovka polutorafuntowaja’. All the three accessions of ‘Laxton’s Superb’ displayed the same genotype that was consequently considered to be authentic, and the comparison with the entries of the database enabled to reveal the probable parent pair for this cultivar. For the two accessions of ‘Worcester Pearmain’, the comparative database approach allowed to recognise a misidentification in one of the two germplasm collections. A comparative analysis of different accessions of a cultivar from independent origins and the constitution of a database are required, in order to contribute to a reliable determination of apple cultivars maintained in germplasm collections.
Highlights
Apple (Malus × domestica Borkh) is economically one of the most important fruit trees of temperate climate zones with an extensive cultivation history (Janick et al 1996; Dalla Via and Baric 2012)
In order to deploy molecular markers for the determination of unidentified or misidentified apple trees, first a database with molecular genetic profiles of well-determined reference cultivars from independent germplasm collections needs to be established (Baric et al 2009)
This study concentrated on ten apple accessions assigned to the cultivars ‘Antonovka’, ‘Laxton’s Superb’ and ‘Worcester Pearmain’
Summary
Apple (Malus × domestica Borkh) is economically one of the most important fruit trees of temperate climate zones with an extensive cultivation history (Janick et al 1996; Dalla Via and Baric 2012). Apple growing areas are widespread throughout the world, global production is dominated by only a small number of cultivars such as ‘Golden Delicious’, ‘Granny Smith’ or ‘Red Delicious’ (O’Rourke 2003), and as a result the gene pool of local cultivars has been considerably reduced (Hokanson et al 1998, 2001). For this reason, there have been efforts in different apple growing regions to collect the remaining local genetic diversity of this fruit crop The second step is to carry out comparisons of genetic profiles of unknown or doubtful samples with the confirmed entries of the database, which allows reliable determination
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