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GENETIC STABILITY
EVALUATION OF QUERCUS SUBER L. SOMATIC EMBRYOGENESIS BY RAPD
ANALYSIS
PEDRO FERNANDES, ARMANDO
COSTA CRISTINA ROCHA, AND CONCEIÇÃO SANTOS*
Abstract: A reliable protocol for adult
Quercus suber L. somatic embryogenesis (SE) was developed recently.
To evaluate the
potential use of this protocol in cork oak forest breeding programs, it
is essential to guarantee somatic embryos/emblings genetic stability.
Random Amplification of Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) is currently used to
assess somaclonal variation providing information on genetic variability
of the micropropagation process. In this work, SE was induced from adult
trees by growing leaf explants on MS medium supplemented with 2,4-D and
zeatin. Embling conversion took place on MS medium without growth
regulators. DNA from donor tree, somatic embryos and emblings was used
to assess genetic variability by RAPD fingerprinting. Fourteen primers
produced 165 genetic loci with high quality and reproducibility. Despite
somatic embryos originated some poor quality PCR-profiles, replicable
and excellent fingerprints were obtained for both donor plant and
embling. Results presented no differences among regenerated emblings and
donor plant. Hence, the SE protocol used did not induce, up to moment,
any genetic variability, confirming data previously obtained with other
molecular/genetic techniques, supporting that this protocol may be used
to provide true-to-type plants from important forestry species.
Department of Biology &
CESAM, Univ.
Aveiro,
Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
*Corresponding authors email:
csantos@ua.pt; Tel:
+351.234.370.766; Fax: +351.234.372.587
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