Assessment of genetic diversity between Vaccinium corymbosum L. cultivars using RAPD and ISSR markers

In the present study genetic diversity between 19 blueberry cultivars was evaluated using Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and Inter Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR) markers. In total, nine selected RAPD primers produced 89% polymorphic fragments, whereas eleven ISSR primers – 82%. Resolving power value of the RAPD primers ranged from 2.40 to 7.19, whilst ISSR from 1.90 to 5.78. The similarity coefficients estimated on the basis of the two types of marker systems were very similar, on average amounting to 0.58 for RAPD and 0.60 for ISSR analysis. Cluster analysis based on RAPD markers showed that the 19 accessions can be classified into 6 groups. Taking into account corresponding levels of average genetic similarity (0.59) it is possible to identify three main clusters based on ISSR analysis. The RAPD as well as ISSR markers revealed the existence of genetic differentiation between accessions, which can be exploited in hybridization programs of this species.