Application of five DNA marker techniques to distinguish between five apple (Malus × domestica Borkh.) cultivars and their sports

Genetic variation between five apple cultivars ('Golden Delicious','Gala','Jonagold','Šampion', and 'Idared') and ten of their sports ('Golden Delicious Reinders','Goldrosio','Gala Must','Gala Schniga Schnitzer','Jonagored','Jonagold Excel', 'Szampion Arno', 'Szampion Reno Malinowy', 'Idaredest', and 'Red Idared') was investigated using five types of DNA markers: Inter-Simple Sequence Repeats (ISSR), Simple Sequence Repeats (SSR), Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP), Sequence-Specific Amplified Polymorphism (S-SAP), and Inter-Primer Binding Site (iPBS) amplification. In total, 941 polymorphic amplified fragments were obtained using 12 ISSR, 12 SSR, ten AFLP, 19 iPBS, and 15 S-SAP primers or primer pairs. Four of the above-described techniques (except for SSRs with the primer pairs used in this study) were able to distinguish between the sports and their parental cultivar. The most effective technique to distinguish between the genotypes analysed was S-SAP, which detects variations in DNA regions flanking retrotransposon insertion sites. The combined use of ISSR, AFLP, iPBS, and S-SAP markers identified and distinguished all of the sports tested.