Genetic Differentiation of within and among the Genome Groups of Banana (Musa spp.) Cultivars of Northeast India

Genetic variation of 27 banana (Musa spp.) cultivars collected from North-eastern region of India belonging to five different genome groups (AA, BB, AAA, AAB and ABB) were studied using RAPD markers. Altogether 30 RAPD markers were tested, out of which nine were successful in generating consistent PCR products. Amongst the 99 PCR products generated, 7.07% were monomorphic and 92.93% were polymorphic bands. High level of genetic diversity values were observed comprising expected genetic heterozygosity (Ht) of 0.24, homozygosity (Hs) of 0.07, genetic differentiation (Gst) of 0.67 and gene flow (Nm) of 0.23. Analysis of molecular variations (AMOVA) also revealed high level of genetic variation among the cultivars of different genomic groups (70%) and within the same genome group (30%). Among the five genome groups studied, AA showed the highest genetic variation. The dendrogram and principal component analysis based on RAPD profiles revealed the successful differentiation and clustering of banana cultivars based on their genome groups except in one cultivar (Noneh-laphu, AA) which was clustered with cultivars belonging to BB group.