The use of RAPD markers to facilitate the identification of Oryza species within a germplasm collection

RAPD analysis was carried out using 93 accessions held within the Oryza collection in the Genetic Resource Center at IRRT. These accessions had been designated as O. meridionalis, O. glumaepatula, O. nivara or O. rufipogon on the basis of the identification of the original collector although in some cases these had been subjected to subsequent taxonomic revision. Following numerical analysis of the RAPD data, we propose that five of the forty accessions designated as O. meridionalis and four of the 22 accessions designated as O. glumaepatula have been mis-identified. The relationship between accessions designated as O. nivara and O. rufipogon is complex, although it appears that some mis-identification has also occurred for these two taxa. The results indicate that RAPD technology can be used as a fast and accurate method to assist in the validation of the identification of wild Oryza species.