Characterization of Genetic Diversity in Itching Beans (Mucuna pruriens (L.) DC. var. pruriens) accessions from Southern Western Ghats, India by RAPD analysis

Genetic diversity was estimated in a collection of eleven itching bean accessions from different agro-ecological regions of Southern Western Ghats, Tamil Nadu, India using Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) technique. The DNA samples extracted from itching bean accessions were found to be relating pure with the purity index (OD₂₆₀/OD₂₈₀) value of 1.791 to 1.828. A total number of 28 polymorphic RAPD-PCR bands were scored with five different random primers. Among the five primers employed in the present study, OPB-04 and OPB-05 represented higher level of polymorphism (100%). The similarity index values ranged from 0.0741 to 0.3600 indicating the presence of enormous genetic diversity at molecular level. A dendrogram generated by cluster analysis divided eleven accessions into three groups A, B and C. Major group B has six accessions, group A have four accessions and group C have only one accessions.