Analysis of genetic relationships among 22 European barley varieties based on two PCR markers

Two long primers of 19 (F17) and 20 (F13) nucleotides, respectively, were used in polymerase chain reactions to amplify DNA from different cultivated barley accessions. These primers can distinguish closely related varieties and, with a unique primer, all the barley accessions analysed showed a characteristic fingerprint. Sixty per cent and 76% of the fragments generated using F13 and F17, respectively, were polymorphic. The genetic similarity values between accessions were estimated from F13 and F17 data. The dendrogram and principal coordinate analysis performed with F13 data revealed a clear separation of these varieties in accord with their pedigree relationships.