Chloroplast DNA variation and parentage analysis in 55 apples.

The chloroplastic atpB-rbcL spacer and the first 53 codons of the rbcL coding sequence was sequenced for 40 apple cultivars and 15 wild species. This chloroplast DNA region is 904 base pairs long, and only five mutations sites were found among the tested samples. Although the cpDNA variation was low, some parentages are proposed based on the maternal inheritance of plastid DNA: the male and female parents are specified, or else suggested, for Worcester, Discovery, Starking, Starkrimson, Kidd's Orange Red, Priscilla, and Gloster, as well as for the putative wild origin for Malus x domestica.