Abstract :
This study was conducted in order to assess accuracy,
repeatability and reproducibility of the RAPD and IRAP
techniques for determining the genetic variability in 10
Ficus sycomorus L. genotypes grown in the coastal regions
of Syria. Thirty-six RAPD primers applied gave
352 discernible loci, of which 252 (71.59%) were polymorphic.
Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification
with 36 RAPD primers gave an average of 9.778 selected
markers/primers, with a maximum of 21 (OPA18) and a
minimum of five (OPG11, OPK12 and OPT18). The amplification
with 22 IRAP primers (single or combination)
generated 178 bands, of which 151 (84.83%) were polymorphic,
with an average of 11.125 selected markers/
primer, with a maximum of 17 (IRAP-TDK11F) and a
minimum of seven (BREP1F+BREP1R, IRAP-TDK1F+IRAP-
TDK1R and IRAP-TDK2F+IRAP-TDK2R). In the
present investigation, the IRAP marker was more efficient
than the RAPD assay, where the latter exhibited a
lower marker index (MI) average (1.629) compared with
the IRAP technique (2.941). Otherwise, F. sycomor4 genotype
showed the highest dissimilarity compared with
other genotypes studied in this investigation. Based upon
the estimated percent disagreement values (PDV), we can
suggest that there are three subspecies present among the
10 samples tested.
