Molecular characterization of Asplenium nidus L.-A potential ornamental fern species from Andaman

Asplenium nidus L. is one of the most important terrestrial fern in Andaman and Nicobar Islands with great ornamental value. Inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) analysis was used to study the genetic diversity of the species A. nidus L. collected from different geographical locations of the Island. Among 15 ISSR primers screened, 9 primers produced amplification and produced a total of 222 reproducible amplified bands. The number of amplified bands varied from 10 in ISSR 11 to 44 in UBC 842 with an average of 24.7 bands per primer. The range of polymorphic bands and percent polymorphism observed were 1 to 5 and 33.3 to 83.3, respectively. The polymorphic information content value of ISSR marker ranged from 0.365 to 0.485. Cluster analysis grouped the twelve accessions into three clusters (Cluster I, II and III) at Jaccard's similarity coefficient value of 0.69 on basis of geographical locations of the accessions. The cluster I was further divided into two sub-clusters Ia and Ib at the coefficient value of 0.77 and it includes the accessions belonging to South Andaman, one each accession collected from two different locations, Little Andaman and Rangat (Middle Andaman) were grouped separately as clusters II and III, respectively. The genetic variability studies with ISSR marker grouped the accessions of A. nidus L.on basis of their geographical locations and it would help in rapid identification of polymorphism and assist in germplasm collection, conservation and domestication programmes.