Fingerprinting satawar (Asparagus racemosus) genotypes using RAPD markers
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Date
2005
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Publisher
CCSHAU
Abstract
Satawar (Asparagus racemosus) is a medicinal plant growing in
tropical climates and is useful in curing a wide array of ailments. This
study was thus undertaken to prepare a DNA fingerprint database of
selected varieties of Asparagus racemosus and to assess genetic diversity
among them using randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers.
Twenty five RAPD primers were used to assess molecular polymorphism in
fifteen Asparagus racemosus genotypes. A total of 211 amplified products
were obtained out of which 50 were monomorphic and 161 were
polymorphic. Average polymorphism across fifteen genotypes was found
out to be 78.650%. For the genotypes tested, 5 to 17 bands were obtained,
with an average of 10.55 bands per primer. The size of amplified
fragments ranged from 230-2250 bp. Some primers also produced unique
alleles in specific Asparagus genotypes which could be used to distinguish
them. Analysis of this polymorphism profile, generated using suitable
statistical programmes, grouped the fifteen genotypes into two major
clusters at a similarity coefficient of 0.680. Varieties HAR-6 and Wild-3
were found out to be the most diverse and distant from other varieties.
The second cluster again divided into two minor clusters, out-grouping the
Nepali variety. The next large sub-cluster contained all the other
genotypes. Varieties Wild-1 and Indian Yellow were genetically most
similar. Genetic similarity matrices of the genotypes ranged from 0.630 to
1.00, indicating a moderate genetic variability among the genotypes.
Wild-1 and Indian Yellow, showed a genetic similarity value of 1.00 while
the genotypes HAR-1 and Wild-3 were found out to be genetically most
diverse, at a value of 0.630. All other genotypes varied between these two
extreme values. The results indicated that RAPD markers are efficient for
identification of Asparagus racemosus genotypes and for determination of
the genetic relationships among them. Fingerprint data obtained in this
study can be further utilized in identification and development of
improved Asparagus varieties.