Agricultural Biotechnology Research Institute of Iran

DNA fingerprinting of commercial horticultural cultivars of Iran

One significant issue faced by gardeners regarding the establishment of nurseries and gardens is the uncertainty of the genetic authenticity of the cultivated varieties. Often, gardeners invest several years of time and resources into cultivating a specific variety, only to discover that the cultivated variety is not the intended one, leading to irreparable losses. In this program, we used structural and functional DNA markers of the genome to conduct DNA fingerprinting of 70 commercial varieties comprising of date, pistachio, almond, fig, pomegranate, olive, and walnut. This was done in collaboration with the Agricultural Research, Education, and Extension Organization (AREEO) to prepare molecular kits for the rapid identification of genetic authenticity of horticultural crop varieties in Iran. Currently, the identified molecular keys are being utilized in institutions to determine the authenticity of the studied varieties.