Target region amplification polymorphism
(TRAP) markers were used to estimate the
genetic similarity (GS) among 53 sugarcane varieties
and five species of the Saccharum complex. Seven
fixed primers designed from candidate genes involved
in sucrose metabolism and three from those involved
in drought response metabolism were used in combination
with three arbitrary primers. The clustering of
the genotypes for sucrose metabolism and drought
response were similar, but the GS based on Jaccard’s
coefficient changed. The GS based on polymorphism
in sucrose genes estimated in a set of 46 Brazilian
varieties, all of which belong to the three Brazilian
breeding programs, ranged from 0.52 to 0.9, and that
based on drought data ranged from 0.44 to 0.95. The results suggest that genetic variability in the evaluated
genes was lower in the sucrose metabolism genes than
in the drought response metabolism ones