DNA Fingerprinting of Crops and Its Significance in Crop Improvement

One of the improvements made possible by the era of genomics is DNA fingerprinting. DNA fingerprinting can be used to detect a variety of genetic changes. In breeding programmes fingerprinting is used to improve productivity and performance. Variety differentiation was relied on morphological characteristics prior to the introduction of genomics and proteomics approaches. Although morphological markers have been used for decades, protein-based markers like isozymes were discovered in the middle of the twentieth century and used for fingerprinting and crop genetic variety assessments. But nowadays, the emergence of genome sequencing has led to the widespread use of genetic markers for crop fingerprinting. The discovery of DNA-based genetic markers has improved genetic research. For genetic diversity estimation, crop evolution, gene mapping and phylogeny, diploid/haploid crop appraisal, heterosis analysis, varietal identification by using marker assisted selection (MAS), highly polymorphic DNA markers are generated. The use of DNA markers for crop fingerprinting started with RFLPs that did not involve PCR and subsequently advanced to PCR amplifiable markers such as AFLPs, RAPDs, SSRs, ISSRs, SNPs, and GBS.This review will provide an outlook on several types of markers and their significance in DNA fingerprinting of crops and possible applications, as well as suggestions for further research.