Plant Tissue Cult. 12(1) : 49-56, 2002 (June)

Intra- and Interspecific Genetic Diversity in Grain Amaranthus Using Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Markers

N. Mandal and P. K. Das¹

Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur-741 252, West Bengal, India

Key words: Genetic diversity, RAPD, PCR, Grain amaranth

Abastract

Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis was performed to study the genetic diversity in three grain amaranths - Amaranthus hypo-chondriacus, A. caudatus, A. cruentus comprising a total of 17 accessions. As many as 13 bands were identified and the extent of polymorphism was highest in cruentus with 69.2% followed by caudatus 38.5% and hypochondriacus having 15.4 %. Three caudatus accessions recorded 60 - 80% similarity followed by 50% between two accessions of cruentus, while 12 accessions of hypochondriacus displayed a similarity pattern ranging from 10 - 100%. The clustering pattern of gel fragments through dendrogram analysis revealed that cruentus stood apart while hypochondricus and caudatus overlapped. The study demonstrated much higher level of genetic similarity between hypochon-driacus and caudatus. The RAPD profile developed from primer 1 and 2 indicated a strong possibility of a single common progenitor of these three grain amaranth species.

Download Full Article