PCR technique helps determine the varietal genuineness of Chile s fruit trees
More than 180 million fruit plants are sold each year in Chile and producers in that market need to be certain that the plants they are sold are of the variety they are purchasing. The PCR (polymerase chain reaction) technique s genetic identification individualizing potential has positioned it as a new instrument to analyze the varietal genuineness of fruit trees.
“What we have been developing at Rengo s CEAF is similar to human paternity tests, but we apply it to plants. DNA tests can confirm that the plant is really what one expects it to be. I worked on cherry tree varieties during my thesis work and then I began to work with the plants from the Center s traditional Genetic Improvement Program for stone fruit rootstocks, to confirm that the plants obtained in the crosses were hybrids,” stated Verónica Guajardo, a researcher at the Center for Advanced Studies in Fruit Growing (CEAF), biochemist, a