GENETIC-DISTANCE DETECTED WITH RAPD MARKERS AMONG SELECTED AUSTRALIAN COMMERCIAL VARIETIES AND BORON-TOLERANT EXOTIC GERMPLASM OF PEA (PISUM-SATIVUM L)

The optimisation of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis in pea was investigated and the results were applied to an analysis of five representative Australian varieties and five selected boron-tolerant accessions derived from different geographical regions. Genotypes were compared using 34 random primers (Operon Technologies, Alameda, CA) which generated 180 polymorphic bands. Genetic similarity among genotypes was estimated on the basis of the percentage of common bands between genotypes and a dendrogram was constructed by the unweighted pair grouping method. A pattern of RAPD reaction corresponding to two main groups was discerned. The genetic divergence between Australian varieties and the boron-tolerant accessions suggests an intensive back-crossing programme would be required to transfer boron tolerance to a locally adapted genetic background. Our results show RAPD to be useful for clarifying phylogenic relationships within a species and also to provide useful genetic markers for varietal identification in pea.