A novel random amplified polymorphic DNA-based strategy for genetic diversity analysis and identification of tomatoes

Cultivar identification diagrams (CIDs) provide a rapid and efficient approach for identifying cultivars based on random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers. In this paper, 64 tomato cultivars were identified using a CID. Using RAPD profiles, clustering analysis was performed to analyze genetic diversity. The results showed that 8 RAPD primers could completely separate the 64 cultivars according to the obtained polymorphic bands; a CID of the 64 tomato cultivars was then constructed. As verification of the CID validity, 8 randomly selected cultivars were investigated and proven to be well distinguished. In addition, 33 DNA bands were obtained, 20 (60.6%) of which were polymorphic. Genetic distances were calculated with a range of 0.032 to 1.402. Clustering analysis showed that the 64 tomato cultivars were divided into 4 groups with a similarity coefficient of 0.40. Using this novel strategy, with the same RAPD data, both CID and clustering analysis can simultaneously determine tomato cultivars and their genetic diversity.