Indian Journal of Plant Genetic Resources

Genetic diversity was estimated among eight wild accessions of Abrus precatorious L. collected from different areas of Maharashtra, Orissa and West Bengal using Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and Inter Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR) markers. Out of 40 random primers used, 28 were polymorphic, generating a total of 175 amplification products with an average of 6.25 products per polymorphic primer. Out of 35 ISSR primers, 20 were found polymorphic, generating a total of 81 amplification products with an average of 4.01 bands per polymorphic primer. Mean polymorphic information content values were 0.77 and 0.67 for RAPD and ISSR, respectively. Pair wise Jaccard's similarity coefficient values ranged from 0.357 to 0.740 for RAPD markers and 0.245 to 0.829 for ISSR markers, indicating high genetic variability among these genotypes. The accessions IC418 115 from Thane and IC392840 from Mayurbhanj displayed the maximum genetic similarity. The cluster analysis discriminated all the accessions from Maharashtra in one group. The degree of genetic variation detected using RAPD and ISSR analysis among eight accessions suggests that these markers can be employed for genetic diversity studies in Abrus precatorius.