Abstract:
Molecular characterization of 19 Jatropha accessions that included 15 accessions of
J.curcas and 4 different species was carried out using 3 different markers systems.
Highest polymorphism (96.67%) was recorded by RAPD followed by DAMD (91.02%)
and ISSR (90%). Polymorphism Information Content (PIC) was higher for DAMD
(0.873) and almost equal for RAPD (0.863) and ISSR (0.862) markers, whereas Resolving
Power (Rp) was found to be higher for RAPD as compared to the other two marker
systems. Marker Index (MI) values varied greatly with highest (19.07) in RAPD. Shannon
index (i), observed number of alleles (na), effective number of alleles (ne) and Nei’s
genetic diversity (h) values were found to be significantly higher for ISSR as compared to
RAPD and DAMD markers. Thus, all the markers proved to be equally efficient for
diversity studies in Jatropha. Several alleles in all the markers indicated J. gossypiifolia as
one of the parents of J. tanjorensis. Dendrograms and PCA plots generated based on
RAPD showed three major clusters with J. integerrima and J. podagrica falling in group I,
fifteen J. curcas accessions in group II, and J. gossypiifolia as an outlier in group III.
DAMD markers also showed similar clustering pattern whereas ISSR showed last cluster
of J. gossypiifolia and J. tanjorensis. These results may provide a future base for
conservation and characterization of available Jatropha genetic resources.
Keywords: Genetic diversity, Jatropha, Molecular markers, Polymorphism.
