Identification of Self- incompatibility Alleles in Some Almond Genotypes by Degenerate S-RNase Primers

The almond, prunus dulcis miller which belongs to rosaceae family, is one of the most important commercial and oldest cultivated tree nut crops. almonds are classified as a ‘nut’ in which the edible seed is the commercial product. therefore, pollination and fertilization are necessary in almond. the characteristic of cultivated almond to express gametophytic self- incompatibility discourages self-fertilization and favors cross pollination. genetic control of pollen-pistil self-incompatibility is through a single gene (s) which exists in a series of alleles s1 to sx . compatibility of pollen-pistil in almond is an important consideration in planning crosses in breeding program and in choosing pollinizers for orchard planting. identification of self-(in) compatibility in almond carried out by molecular and controlled pollination methods. in this study, identification of s-alleles in 37 iranian almond cultivars and genotypes was carried out by pcr method with using degenerate primers of em-pc3consrdempc2cons fd, paconsi-fand empc1consrd. in this way the size of s -alleles were estimated based on bands which amplified with second intron. the results confirmed self-incompatibility in cultivars and most genotypes. however, the sf-like allele (in size) was observed in a9 and a36 genotypes. if these results are confirmed by sequencing the sf allele, it will be first time to identify self-compatible genotype in iranian almond genotypes.