Identification of cereals using DNA based technology

The use of DNA profiling in cereals is discussed with descriptions of the major PCR-based techniques using specific and arbitrary primers. Primers for storage protein families such as alpha-amylase and gliadins can provide a source of polymorphismsthat can be exploited in DNA fingerprinting and can aid selection of cultivars with desirable quality characteristics. Other primers based on intron-exon splice junctions and PCR of short sequence repeats (microsatellites) in cereals can produce a largeamount of useful information but need further research for their full exploitation in cereal identification. Applications of PCR-based DNA profiling include variety and species identification, germplasm conservation and marker-assisted breeding.