A comparison of amplified and restriction fragment length polymorphism in wheat

amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) technique was assessed for its effectiveness as a marker system in wheat, a hexaploid species with a large genome (1.6 x 10(10) bp per haploid). The degree of polymorphism detected by AFLP among 11 pure lines of wheat was determined and compared with the polymorphism detected by RFLP. Cost comparison between AFLP and RFLP techniques was also made. The appropriate amount of wheat genomic DNA as template in pre-amplification was first determined. All 20 AFLP primer pairs tested resulted in amplification of bands which were polymorphic between all pairwise genotype comparisons. On average, 106 products per genotype were amplified, and for each primer pair used, more than 25 polymorphic fragments detected polymorphism among the 11 genotypes. In comparison, only 61% of 18 RFLP probes tested detected polymorphism among 10 of the 11 lines and each polymorphic probe detected an average of only three bands showing polymorphism between genotype pairs. The AFLP technique is more efficient but less expensive and requires less labor than the RFLP technique in wheat.