Sistemi di controllo della qualita’ del materiale micropropagato nella varieta’ commerciale “Elide” di Gerbera jamesonii

The methylation status of the genomic DNA was investigated in the experimental test constituted by the two phenotypes of the commercial variety “Elide”®, the “wild type” and “bushy”, in vitro propagated. The onset of the bushy phenotype was reduced when “Elide” was cultured in the media added with the fungicide Imazalil. The genomic DNA digestion with 10 different methylation-sensitive enzymes showed, for both phenotypes, a low GC content and a high level of methylation. The Methylation-Sensitive Amplification Polymorphism (MSAP) technique, making use of fluorescent primers, has been applied for the first time in Gerbera jamesonii. Different polymorphic bands were obtained, showing different methylation sites in all phenotypic conditions observed.