RAPD analysis of collection accessions of the genus Beta L. species

The primitive (transient) forms and wild varieties of beet are related to cultivated beet (sugar, table, fodder and mangold), have the useful properties, can be crossed with cultivated beet and used in breeding programs. However, there are some difficulties in estimating the status of beet samples and procedure for their storage in gene banks, which are caused by problems in beet taxonomy and systematics. In particular, a correct discrimination of В eta maritima vs В. vulgaris is hard to accomplish, and also the distinctions between В. maritim а and В. adanensis or В. mac rocarpa are difficult to identify. With the use of classical morphobiological analysis and molecular RAPD-markers, the authors for the first time determined the phylogenetic relationships between different specimens of wild, primitive and cultivated Beta L. from world collection of the N.I. Vavilov All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Plant Growing (VIR). On the basis of electrophoresis data, by means of UPGMA method the tested samples were clustered and phylogenetic trees created. The obtained data suggest the phylogenetic division of Beta L. genus, which have been proposed by V.I. Burenin in 1983, and indicate an accuracy of this classification.