Assessment of genetic fidelity of micropropagated apple rootstock plants, EMLA 111, using RAPD markers.

EMLA 111(East Malling Long Ashton), a clonal rootstock of apple (Malus pumila Mill.) was micropropagated using axillary bud and shoot apices. The present work was carried out to assess the genetic fidelity of micropropagated plants using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD). Ten arbitrary decamer primers have been used to amplify genomic DNA from in vitro raised field material and mother plant. A total of 57 amplified products were obtained, out of which 53 were monomorphic across the mother tree and its tissue culture raised progenies. Of the ten primers used, 8 showed RAPD profiles which were identical to the mother plant. Similarity matrix based on Jaccard's coefficient revealed that pairwise value between the mother plant and its tissue cultured plants ranged from 0.93 to 1.00 and among tissue cultured plants, it was 0.92 to 1.00, thus indicating a high degree of genetic fidelity.