Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP) of the 5S-rRNA-NTS region: a rapid and precise method for plant identification

Molecular genetic methods have several advantages over classical morphological and chemical analyses. The genetic method requires genotype instead than phenotype, therefore PCR-based techniques have been widely used for a rapid identifi cation of plant species, varieties and chemotypes. Recently, the molecular discrimination of some higher plant species has been evaluated using sequences of a 5S-rRNA gene spacer region. The variation in the nontranscribed sequence (NTS) region has been used in a number of plant species for studying intraspecifi c variation, genome evolution, and phylogenetic reconstruction. Here, we describe a rapid method based on the use of the 5S-rRNA-NTS region as a tool for plant DNA fi ngerprinting, which combines PCR, sequencing and restriction fragment length polymorphism analyses.