RAPD analysis of sporting and chimerism in chrysanthemum

Sporting is a well known phenomenon in chrysanthemum and a process by which new cultivars may arise vegetatively from the parental cultivar. A group of cultivars formed this way is called a family of cultivars. Mutations or cell layer rearrangements may be involved. In chrysanthemum there are three different cell layers that form different parts of the plant. Since the species is chimeric these cell layers may be genetically different. Differences at the DNA level among cultivars within one family and among the layers of one cultivar were studied by a PCR-based technique named RAPD analysis. Polymorphisms between cultivars as well as between different cell layers have been observed.