Identification of incompatibility genotypes in almond (Prunus dulcis Mill.) using specific primers based on the introns of the S-alleles

Identification of the incompatibility genotypes of almond cultivars is important in breeding programmes for designing crosses and for selecting progeny. This paper describes a novel molecular technique for the identification of S-alleles in almond based on the use of PCR primers designed from the sequences of the introns without the need for restriction enzyme digestion. Nine specific pairs of primers have been designed for the S1, S2, S5, S7, S8, S9, S10 (putative), S23 and Sf alleles, and these confirmed the S-allele specificities for 22 of the 23 accessions for which published information is available. This technique provides a precise method for identifying S-alleles from the genomic DNAs of almond cultivars, and will be useful for confirming the segregation of alleles in breeding progeny.