DISSECTING GENETIC DIVERSITY IN GARCINIA XANTHOCHYMUS USING ISSR AND RAPD MARKERS

Abstract

Western Ghats of India is one of the megadiversity centres in the world. There are 15 species of Garcinia reported of which many are endemic in nature. The genetic diversity in one of the same endemic species Garcinia xanthochymus was evaluated using ISSR and RAPD markers. A total of 15 individual plants from each location was analyzed. Six populations of G. xanthochymus were collected and screened using 16 ISSR and 10 RAPD markers. ISSR primers generated 80 bands of which 17 were polymorphic (21.25 % polymorphism) and RAPD primers produced 51 total bands of which 18 were polymorphic (35.29 % polymorphism). The ISSR and RAPD cluster analysis grouped them into two groups. The detected polymorphism is enough at species level and therefore the RAPD and ISSR can be used as efficient markers for genetic relatedness assessment in G. xanthochymus. The UPGMA and PCoA analysis distantly grouped these populations in two groups. The genetic diversity within the population is an important to source for the evolution of the genera. G. xanthochymus has distinct populations in different geographical area.