Characterisation of peach (Prunus persica L.) cultivars using isozymes as molecular markers

Six enzyme systems were surveyed in 12 peach cultivars using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of leaf extracts. Variation between cultivars was observed in four enzymes: peroxidase, isocitrate dehydrogenase, acid phosphatase and alkaline phosphatase. Genetic variation parameters revealed that the maximum proportion of polymorphic loci was 46.1%. Out of 15 loci studied, 9 were monomorphic and 6 were polymorphic for 20 alleles. A dendrogram showed the grouping of cultivars on the basis of genetic distance values. The use of isozyme electrophoresis to find the inter-relationship of cultivars is discussed.