Identification of Citrus Varieties Bred in Korea Using Microsatellite Markers

More than 30 citrus varieties have been developed in Korea over almost four decades. Despite the economic importance of citrus fruit production, reliable technologies for the identification of citrus varieties bred in Korea have not been established. We developed 53 polymorphic nuclear microsatellite markers fully covering the nine pseudochromosomes of citrus and applied them to the discrimination of the 32 available citrus varieties bred in Korea. Most Korean citrus varieties were clearly discriminated by 245 alleles derived from the polymorphic microsatellite loci. However, nucellar or bud sport mutant varieties originated from Citrus hybrid 'Shiranuhi' could not be discriminated from each other because they share identical genotypes on all of the microsatellite loci investigated. The microsatellite markers developed in this study will be an efficient molecular genetic tool to protect breeders' rights and guarantee the quality of nursery plants in the citrus industry.