Identification of Acerola (Malpighia glabra L.) Accessions by SRAP Markers

Acerola (synonyms: West Indian cherry, Barbados cherry, and Puerto Rico cherry) (Malpighia glabra L., synonyms: M. punicifolia L. and M. emarginata DC) is an evergreen fruit tree that originated in the Central America. Acerola fruit has a high commercial value since it contains large amounts of ascorbic acid and polyphenols known as functional components (Asenjo and Guzman, 1946; Moscoco, 1956; Hanamura et al., 2005, 2008). Acerola harbors several cultivars with characteristic traits because superior clones or seedlings have been selected (Ledin, 1956; Brooks and Olmo, 1972; Clark and Finn, 2006; Cavalcante et al., 2007). However, the lineage of many cultivars is unknown, and their genetic relationships have not been elucidated. Recently, morphological and DNA analyses have been used to characterize the acerola germplasm (Salla et al., 2002; Chowdhury et al., 2005). Among the various PCR-based DNA analysis methods, sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAP), which preferentially amplifies open reading frames (ORFs), is a simple and efficient marker system (Li and Quiros, 2001). In fruit trees as well, this technique has been used to analyze genetic diversity and for phylogenetic studies (Ahmad et al., 2004; Guo and Luo, 2006; Uzun et al., 2009). In the present study, therefore, we used SRAP analysis to identify each accession and to elucidate phylogenetic relationships of acerola in our germplasm collection. Materials and Methods