Horticultural Science and Technology 원예과학기술지 ISSN:1226-8763(Print) 2465-8588(Online)

Microsatellite markers were used to identify 58 major commercial melon cultivars, and to assess hybrid seed purity of a melon breeding line known as ‘10H08’. A set of 412 microsatellite primer pairs were utilized for fingerprinting of the melon cultivars. Twenty-nine markers showed hyper-variability and could discriminate all cultivars on the basis of marker genotypes, representing the genetic variation within varietal groups. Cluster analysis based on Jaccard’s distance coefficients using the UPGMA algorithm categorized 2 major groups, which were in accordance to morphological traits. The DNA bulks of female and male parents of breeding line ‘10H08’ were tested with 29 primer pairs based on microsatellites to investigate purity testing of F1 hybrid seeds, and 5 primer pairs exhibited polymorphism. One microsatellite primer pair (CMGAN12) produced unambiguous polymorphic bands among the parents. Among 192 seeds tested with CMGAN12, progeny possibly generated by self-pollination of the female parent were clearly distinguished from the hybrid progeny. These markers will be useful for fingerprinting melon cultivars and can help private seed companies to improve melon seed purity.