PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - N. A. Irelan AU - C. P. Meredith TI - Genetic Analysis of <em>Agrobacterium tumefaciens</em> and <em>A. vitis</em> Using Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA AID - 10.5344/ajev.1996.47.2.145 DP - 1996 Jan 01 TA - American Journal of Enology and Viticulture PG - 145--151 VI - 47 IP - 2 4099 - http://www.ajevonline.org/content/47/2/145.short 4100 - http://www.ajevonline.org/content/47/2/145.full SO - Am J Enol Vitic.1996 Jan 01; 47 AB - The extent of genetic heterogeneity within and between three Agrobacterium biovars: A. tumefaciens biovars I and II, and A. vitis (biovar III) was surveyed using randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers. A high level of both inter- and intraspecific genetic diversity was detected in the 20 Agrobacterium strains tested. No monomorphic bands were detected and only a small number of intraspecific monomorphic bands were identified. Biovar II strains exhibited the highest proportion of shared bands (41%, vs. 38% and 12% for biovar I and A. vitis, respectively), but only one of these shared markers was intraspecifically monomorphic. In contrast, biovar I strains had a larger proportion of shared markers that were intraspecifically monomorphic. The greatest genetic diversity was detected among the A. vitis genotypes. Although genetic variation detected between strains was high, phenetic analysis revealed that genetic similarity was highly correlated with biovar designation. Our results suggest that RAPD markers may have utility in Agrobacterium (biovar) identification and classification.