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ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #102392
Title: AFLP DNA ANALYSIS OF OPIUM POPPY

Author
item Saunders, James
item Pedroni, Monica
item PENROSE, LINDSAY - TASMANIAN ALKALOIDS,AUST.
item FIST, TONY - TASMANIAN ALKALOIDS,AUST.

Submitted to: Molecular and General Genetics
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/31/2001
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: DNA fingerprinting is a new powerful procedure to gain information on the genetics of living things. It can be applied to plants in the same manner as animals and humans. We have done a DNA fingerprinting study of opium poppy plants for two reasons. First, the poppy plant is an important source of legal drugs, such as codeine and morphine, which are of vital concern to the medical community. The DNA data from our fingerprinting study will help to produce poppy plants with more desirable levels of these compounds in them through breeding studies. Secondly, the DNA fingerprints we have accomplished will help to make a worldwide map of this drug plant. Using this map, we will be able to track a plant sample back to the country of origin to help establish and verify the trade routes of illegal drugs around the world. This information is of vital concern to law enforcement efforts around the world.

Technical Abstract: Amplified Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphic (AFLP) DNA analysis was performed on leaf samples of 41 accessions of opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) from a breeding collection held in Tasmania, Australia. A similarity dendrogram was produced based on the analysis of all AFLP bands between 50 and 350 base pairs seen on an autoradiogram from sequencing electrophoretic gels using three different primer pairs. It was necessary to combine the analysis of all three primer pairs into a single dendrogram to ensure that replicate analyses of related populations were grouped together. Individual primer pair analyses were not able to resolve the genetic relationships of unknown but in closely related samples, however, a single primer pair could easily discern between populations of different poppy species. Further analysis beyond three primer pairs did not enhance the similarity index dendrogram. The application of AFLP DNA analysis for cultivar identification represents an efficient, reliable procedure to conclusively identify opium poppy breeding lines. Our study used limited fresh leaf material and analysis of the genetic relatedness was preformed on autoradiographic banding patterns using commercially available software. This data was used to generate a similarity dendrogram depicting the predicted genetic relationship of the opium poppy cultivars. The result was that cultivars of opium poppy of common heritage could be unambiguously distinguished from lines of a more distant genetic background. The banding patterns were reproducible, consistent within a common genotype, and frequent enough to be useful in characterizing genetic diversity.