Abstract
Molecular markers have revolutionized and modernized our ability to characterize genetic variation and to rationalize genetic selection, being effective and reliable tools for the analysis of genome architectures and gene polymorphisms in crop plants. The area of plant genomics that has shown the greatest development with respect to the use of molecular marker technology is that of population genetics. All DNA polymorphism assays have proven to be powerful tools for characterizing and investigating germplasm resources, genetic variation and differentiation of populations, on the basis of gene diversity and gene flow estimates. In the last decade, RFLP and PCR-derived molecular markers have also been extensively applied in plant genetics and breeding for Mendelian gene tagging and QTL mapping. As a matter of fact, the number of loci for which DNA-based assays have been generated has increased dramatically, the majority using PCR as methodology platform. The information acquired is now being exploited to transfer different traits, including biotic stress resistances and improved quality traits, to important varieties by means of marker-assisted selection (MAS) programs. Although the potential for take-up is now much wider than in the past, the progress seems nevertheless to be slow, albeit measurable. The most important challenges in the near future are certainly the molecular characterization of germplasm collections for preserving them from genetic erosion and the identification of phenotypic variants potentially useful for breeding new varieties. Knowing the presence of useful traits, genes and alleles would help in making decisions on the multiplication of plant accessions and the maintenance of seed stocks. There are no doubts that the use of molecular markers for characterization and conservation of genetic resources should be implemented so that potentially useful genes and genotypes can be added to core collections to make them exploitable by breeders. A new concept that might be successful is that of building crop plant collections primarily based on the knowledge of the presence of valuable genes and traits.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Barcaccia G, Albertini E, Torricelli R et al. (1998) Molecular characterization of lentil and emmer landraces. National Conference of Biodiversity, Alghero, Sassari, Italy, 8–11 September, pp 841–846
Barcaccia G, Lucchin M, Parrini P (2003) Characterization of a flint maize (Zea mays var. indurata) Italian landrace: II. Genetic diversity and relatedness assessed by PCR-based markers. Genet Resour Crop Evol 50:253–271
Barcaccia G, Albertini E, Pallottini L et al. (2005) Fingerprinting wheat varieties for multiple breeding purposes. Proceedings of the XLIX national conference of agriculture genetics, Potenza, 12–15 September, C.06
Barcaccia G, Pallottini L, Parrini P et al. (2006) A genetic linkage map of a flint maize (Zea mays var. indurata L.) Italian landrace using a one-way pseudo-testcross strategy and multilocus PCR-based markers. Maydica 51:469–480
De Vicente MC, Guzmán FA, Engels J et al. (2006) Genetic characterization and its use in decision-making forthe conservation of crop germplasm. In: Ruane J Sonnino A (eds) The role of biotechnology in exploring and protecting agricultural genetic resources, FAO, Rome. pp 129–138
Dice LR (1945) Measures of the amount of ecological association between species. Ecology, 26:297–302. Proceedings of the international workshop. The role of biotechnology, Villa Gualino, Turin, Italy, 5–7 March 2005. pp 129–138
Ferreira ME (2006) Molecular analysis of gene banks for sustainable conservation and increased use of crop genetic resources. In: Ruane J, Sonnino A (eds) The role of biotechnology in exploring and protecting agricultural genetic resources, FAO, Rome. pp 121–127
Lanteri S, Barcaccia G (2006) Molecular markers based analysis for crop germplasm preservation. In: Ruane J, Sonnino A (eds) The role of biotechnology in exploring and protecting agricultural genetic resources, FAO, Rome. pp 55–66
Morgante M, Olivieri AM (1993) PCR-amplified microsatellites as markers in plant genetics. Plant J 3:175–182
Negri V, Tosti N, Falcinelli M et al. (2000) Characterization of thirteen cowpea landraces from Umbria (Italy). Strategy for their conservation and promotion. Genet Resour Crop Evol 47:141–146
Nei M (1973) Analysis of gene diversity in subdivided populations. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 70:3321–3323
Nei M (1978) Estimation of average heterozygosity and genetic distance from a small number of individuals. Genetics, 89:583–590
Nei M, Li WH (1979) Mathematical model for studying genetic variation in terms of restriction endonucleases. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 76:5269–5273
Pallottini L, Garcia E, Kami J et al. (2004) The genetic identity of a patented yellow bean. Crop Sci 44:968–977
Pallottini L (2002) Variation of the genetic structure of populations in relation to different strategies of germplasm conservation (on farm, in situ and ex situ) in local varieties of maize: the case study of the “Nostrano di Storo” (Zea mays var. indurate L.).Ph.D. thesis, Padua, Italy, University of Padua, pp 316
Papa R, Gepts P (2003) Asymmetry of gene flow and differential geographical structure of molecular diversity in wild and domesticated common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) from Mesoamerica. Theor Appl Genet 106:239–250
Rafalski A, Morgante M (2004) Corn and humans: recombination and linkage disequilibrium in two genomes of similar size. Trends Genet 20:103–111
Vendramin G, Morgante M (2006) Genetic diversity in forest tree populations and conservation: analysis of neutral and adaptive variation. In: Ruane J, Sonnino A (eds) The role of biotechnology in exploring and protecting agricultural genetic resources, FAO, Rome, pp 145–147
Vos P, Hogers R, Bleeker M et al (1995) AFLP: a new technique for DNA fingerprinting. Nucleic Acids Res 23:4407–4414
Wright S (1965) The interpretation of population structure by F-statistics with special regard to systems of mating. Evolution 19:395–420
Wright S (1978) Evolution and the genetics of populations. Variability within and among natural populations. University of Chicago Press, USA, p 4
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Barcaccia, G. (2010). Molecular Markers for Characterizing and Conserving Crop Plant Germplasm. In: Jain, S., Brar, D. (eds) Molecular Techniques in Crop Improvement. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2967-6_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2967-6_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-2966-9
Online ISBN: 978-90-481-2967-6
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)