IDENTIFICATION OF THE DISCRIMINATING MOLECULAR PROFILES OF FIVE MAIN RUBBER TREE (HEVEA BRASILIENSIS) GENOTYPES RECOMMENDED IN IVORY COAST

This study was undertaken to identify the microsatellite markers characteristic of rubber tree genotypes, producers of natural rubber. Twelve pairs of microsatellite primers obtained from expressed sequence tags (EST), available in the GENBANK genomic bank, were used to screen a sample of 40 individuals, that is, 8 per genotype. These microsatellite loci are di, tri or tetranucleotides, patterned perfect, imperfect, compound or complex. This study on the GT1, PB217, IRCA41, IRCA230 and IRCA331 genotypes, recommended in Ivory Coast, showed that it is possible to characterize them by using three microsatellite loci, such as Hb36, Hb43 and Hb110. The abundance of repeats observed in the genome of rubber tree clones was similar to those reported in other works. These can be exploited and used in rubber tree clonal improvement programs.