Molecular Studies on Orobanche

The optimization of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis in Orobanche was investigated and the results were applied to analysis of O. aegyptiaca, O. oxyloba, O. ramosa and three O. crenata collections gathered from different locations in Egypt, Genotypes were compared using 20 random primers. The polymorphisms detected were only between the tested species, while identical banding patterns were generated in collections of the same species. Genetic similarity among species was estimated on the basis of the percentage of common bands between species and a dendogram was constructed using the unweighted pair grouping method. Two primers were chosen as specific PCR primers to differentiate between the studied Orobanche species. The results of this study show that RAPDs can be used as a method for clarifying relationships between species of Orobanche.