HOW IS DNA FINGERPRINTING USED?
We have used DNA fingerprinting to look at the genetic relationship among a wide range of bermudagrasses. Some of the first work highlighted the differences among high-quality commercial cultivars and select bermudagrasses found in germplasm collections. Caetano Anolles et al 2 surveyed 13 bermudagrass cultivars, including African, common bermudagrass, and several interspecific hybrids for genetic relatedness using DAF. Results showed that DNA fingerprints were easily distinguishable, and the analysis showed clear genetic relationships among all bermudagrass varieties. To probe the limits of the ability to distinguish bermudagrasses, we fingerprinted Tifway and its irradiation-induced mutant Tifway II, which presumably differed in one or a few nucleotide changes in the DNA sequence. In order to differentiate these very closely related varieties, we found it necessary to use 81 distinct primer combinations to find a one-band difference among all 81 fingerprints. 2 From this early work,
