LAYMAN'S ABSTRACTS Simple Sequence Repeat Analysis of Selected NSIC-registered Coffee Varieties in the Philippines

May Daisy, Santos, Francesca Carla, Angelo Besa, Joshua Victoria, Ernelea Cao
unpublished
Coffee is an important commercial crop worldwide. C. arabica and C. canephora, commonly known as Arabica and Robusta coffee, respectively, comprise most of the global coffee production. The latter is inferior in terms of taste and aroma but is more resistant to coffee diseases, such as leaf rust, berry borer, and Wilt disease. Another coffee species, C. liberica, commonly known as Liberica coffee, is also cultivated in the Philippines because of its strong taste and flavor. The Philippines has
more » ... een trying to revive the coffee industry by producing specialty coffee with NSIC-registered varieties. The differences in the cup quality of the varieties are the main factors that determine market value. Therefore, there is a pressing need for the correct identif ication and isolation of pure coffee beans. Local farms usually misidentify and mix coffee beans of different varieties, depreciating their value. This study used simple sequence repeats (SSRs) to distinguish Philippine NSIC-registered coffee varieties. SSRs are tandem repeats in DNA sequences, with each repeat consisting of about two to six nucleotides. SSRs differ in terms of the number and kinds of repeats. The markers used in this study were able to separate the Arabica, Robusta, and Liberica coffee from each other.
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