ISSR MARKERS FOR COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF GENETIC VARIABILITY IN SOLANUM L. SPECIES OF SOUTHERN WESTERN GHATS OF KERALA, SOUTH INDIA

Anil Kumar V. S.*, Sunila A. V., Remya Krishnan and Murugan K.

ABSTRACT

Aims: To analyze the genetic variability among 17 Solanum L. taxa from the Southern Western Ghats of Kerala along with common cultivars S. melongena Neelima and S. tuberosum by employing inter simple sequence repeats. Study design: using15 ISSR primers, the purified DNA from the plant samples were tested for their variability. Methodology: The DNA samples were isolated and purified from various plant materials. PCR amplification was done. ISSR primers were used for hybridization and the scorable bands were analyzed. This was compared for the presence of shared and unique bands and finally the percentage of genetic distance calculated and ISSR dendrogram was constructed. The grouping of the clusters denotes their genetic relatedness. Results: 14 ISSR primers showed polymorphism and the highest number of polynmorphic amplification fragments was 22, obtained with the primer number 02. The least number of bands obtained with the primers 05 and 03. Conclusion: The genetic variability existing among various Solanum species could be effectively demonstrated using ISSR analysis.

Keywords: Dendrogram, Inter simple Sequence Repeats, Polymerase Chain Reaction, Solanum.