Molecular genetics laboratory
Molecular genetics laboratory
It contains the necessary equipment for the genotyping of individuals of breeding programs, for identification and varietal description and on population studies. The currently employed method of genotyping of individuals in the laboratory, is the use of microsatellites or SSRs (simple sequence repeats). The laboratory has got databases of numerous chestnut and wild cherry individuals, in both cases genotyped with 10 SSRs.
Equipment in the laboratory:
- Equipment of capillary electrophoresis “CEQ8800 Genetic Analysis” of Beckman Coulter for 192 samples.
- Thermal cyclers “I-Cycle” of Bio-Rad with 96 wells, and “Veriti” of Applied Biosystem with 96 wells.
- Biophotometer Eppendorf, DNA quantification.
- • Electrophoresis buckets, ultrafreezers, autoclave, etc.
The chestnut database includes the genotypes of traditional varieties grown in Galicia (Castanea sativa), the collection of Eurasian hybrid clones created in the last century in Galicia (Castanea crenata x Castanea sativa), wild populations of C. sativa from different European origins, with an important representation of the Spanish populations, pure individuals of Japanese chestnut (C. crenata) and Chinese chestnut (C. mollissima), kept in different stands planted on the coast of Galicia.
The wild cherry (Prunus avium) database comprises the genotypes of superior trees of the population of improvement, of the ‘Centro de Investigación Forestal de Lourizán’, mainly originated in the north of the peninsula.
Services to external users (nursery workers, owners of chestnut forests, foresters):
- Verification of identity of traditional chestnut varieties.
- Verification of indentity of chestnut hybrid clones.
- Origin identification of chestnut individuals.
- Identification of wild cherry clones.