Molecular Genetic Markers for Assessing the Genetic Variation and Relationships in Lactuca Germplasm

The genus Lactuca L. belonging to the Asteraceae family, is widely distributed in different geographical and ecological areas. Lettuce and most of the other species of the genus Lactuca L. have been cultivated for their economic and medicinal importance. This review summarizes recent knowledge of the application of biochemical (isozymes) and molecular technologies (restriction fragment length polymorphism; random amplified polymorphic DNA; amplified fragment length polymorphism; microsatellites or simple sequence repeats; single nucleotide polymorphism) in Lactuca germplasm in order to better understand the genetic variation, interspecific relationships, taxonomy and breeding as a basis for further research studies. Undoubtedly, this would in turn provide a better platform for germplasm improvement, utilization and conservation.