Sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) is a new-type molecular technique that targets coding sequences in the genome and results in a moderate number of co-dominant markers. Based on the SRAP program, the random primer combinations of SRAP, amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) and simple sequence repeat (SSR) were used as new primers in marker analysis. We defined this technique as arbitrarily primed sequence-related amplified polymorphism (AP-SRAP). Of 256 tested AP-SRAP primers, 37.6% primers produced polymorphic patterns from the DNA of one or more species, which showed that AP-SRAP is an effective method to screen markers. Additionally, 80 SRAP primers were used to screen markers in seven plant species (Chinese cabbage, Chinese kale, eggplant, pepper, cucumber, rose and lily), which indicated obvious polymorphism. The primers of AP-SRAP combine simply and reliably. It can overcome the limitation of the number of standard SRAP primers, make greater use of the supply of alternative primers, and potentially reduce laboratory costs. We expect that AP-SRAP may be of wide application in identity testing, population studies, linkage analysis and genome mapping.Keywords: Arbitrarily primed amplification, DNA markers, plantsAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(29), pp. 4588-459
