SSR fingerprinting of raspberry cultivars traded in Germany clearly showed that certainty about the genotype authenticity is a prerequisite for any horticultural experiment

Abstract

Raspberry (Rubus idaeus L.) cultivars are propagated vegetatively, as many other fruit species from the Rosaceae family. During propagation, mistaken identities of cultivars can be caused by mislabelling plants for various reasons. This poses a problem not only for growers who buy cultivars because of specific characteristics (e.g., resistance) but also for breeders who are being deprived of licensing fees for cultivars under Plant Variety Protection (PVP). In this study, six raspberry cultivars of up to six different origins were tested for trueness-to-type by fingerprinting with 16 SSR markers. Nine out of 33 samples turned out not to be true-to-type, seven from online shops and two from nurseries.

Molecular Approaches to Agri-Food Traceability and Authentication: An Updated Review

“…Recently, SSRs have been efficiently used for the traceability of cocoa in beans and liquor [ 67 ], evaluations on trueness-to-type of raspberry [ 68 ] and olive [ 69 ] varieties, and to trace monovarietal and polyvarietal wines along the entire production chain [ 36 ]. Microsatellite markers have also been shown to be effective in tracing species characterized by a reduced diversity such as zucchini [ 70 ].…”

Mapping of the Waxy Bloom Gene in ‘Black Jewel’ in a Parental Linkage Map of ‘Black Jewel’ × ‘Glen Ample’ (Rubus) Interspecific Population

“…A discrepancy in naming is not the only uncertainty with working with both R. idaeus and R. occidentalis cultivars. Even the genotype authenticity is not to be assumed as certain, as cultivars have been repeatedly found to not be true-to-type, resulting from mix-ups or mutations [41][42][43]. As such, care must be taken with comparisons with other studies, even if they used the same cultivars.…”

Determination of Raspberry Cultivar Authenticity Based on Multiplexed Microsatellite Fingerprinting

“…Different kinds of DNA markers have been successfully used for identification of cultivars. Differentiation of cultivated raspberries using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs), and simple sequence repeats (SSRs) have been reported by several authors (e.g., Ercisli et al, 2008;Fernández-Fernández et al, 2011;Miyashita et al, 2015;Pinczinger et al, 2020;Simlat et al, 2018;Umar et al, 2010).…”

“…Polymorphic SSR markers appear to be more desired for genotyping vegetatively propagated plants than other DNA fingerprinting methods because they are highly informative (show high polymorphism), reproducible, technically simple (they are simpler than several other techniques), robust, and suitable for automated allele detection and sizing (Nybom and Lācis, 2021;Rafalski and Tingey, 1993). SSR markers for the Rubus species were first developed in early 2000s (Amsellem et al, 2001) and, in subsequent years, a number of studies were conducted involving several plant species (Castillo et al, 2010;Graham et al, 2004Graham et al, , 2002Kalia et al, 2011;Pinczinger et al, 2020). Pinczinger et al (2020) used sixteen SSR markers, divided into six multiplexes, successfully identified the raspberry cultivars, and found that of the 33 samples considered, only 24 samples appeared to be true-to-type, whereas nine samples were found to be wrongly labeled.…”

“…SSR markers for the Rubus species were first developed in early 2000s (Amsellem et al, 2001) and, in subsequent years, a number of studies were conducted involving several plant species (Castillo et al, 2010;Graham et al, 2004Graham et al, , 2002Kalia et al, 2011;Pinczinger et al, 2020). Pinczinger et al (2020) used sixteen SSR markers, divided into six multiplexes, successfully identified the raspberry cultivars, and found that of the 33 samples considered, only 24 samples appeared to be true-to-type, whereas nine samples were found to be wrongly labeled. This proves that the extent of mislabeled plants on the market is high.…”