**6.3 AFLP (Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism)**

AFLP is an anonymous marker method, detects restriction sites by amplifying a subset of all the sites for a given enzyme pair in the genome by PCR between ligated adapters. To some extent, it like RFLP detects single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at restriction sites.

Ude *et al*. (2003) analyzed the genetic diversity within and between Asian and North American soybean cultivars by AFLP. They found that the average genetic distance between the North American soybean cultivars and the Chinese cultivars was 8.5% and between the North American soybean cultivars and the Japanese cultivars was 8.9%, but the Chinese soybean was not completely separated from the Japanese soybean. They also revealed that Japanese cultivars may constitute a genetically distinct source of useful genes for yield improvement.
