ABSTRACT
In the past decade, molecular markers have become fundamental tools for plant biologists; they are useful for fingerprinting varieties, establishing phylogenies, tagging desirable genes (to assist their introgression into new varieties), determining similarities among inbreds (to maximize heterosis in hybrids), and mapping plant genomes. Several methods for comparing plants at a molecular level have been developed. including the identification of isozyme, restriction fragment length, or polymerase chain reaction (PCR) markers.
