Diversity Among the Wild Population of Aerides Multiflorum from Kangra Valley

Abstract

Biological diversity is the variation among all species of plants and animals, their genetic material and the ecosystems in which they occur. Genetic diversity is the amount of genetic variability among individuals of a variety, or population of a species i.e. any variation in the nucleotides, genes, chromosomes, or whole genome of organisms. Molecular methods have become an essential part of most studies on genetic diversity analyses and distribution and in the analyses of breeding system. Molecular methods are most useful for estimating gene flow, genetic drift and degree of out breeding. RAPD was the first PCR-based molecular marker to be employed in genetic variation analyses. ISSRs are amplified by PCR using microsatellite core sequences as primers with a few selective nucleotides as anchors into the non-repeat adjacent regions (16-18 bp). Orchids are nature's most extravagant group of flowering plants distributed throughout the world from tropics to high alpine. They exhibit incredible range of diversity in shape, size and colour of their flowers. Aerides multiflorum is a tropical epiphytic orchid species with attractive flowers arranged in racemose inflorescence, ranks among the important Indian ornamental orchids. Comparative population studies using PCR based markers RAPD and ISSR were performed to assess the genetic diversity of the wild orchid. Among 60 primers tested 20 RAPD and 20 ISSR primers were selected for analysis. In total, 60 RAPD and 181 ISSR fragments were generated. Out of which 13 of RAPD and 71 of ISSR were polymorphic. High level of polymorphism was recorded in ISSR (39.22%) than RAPD (21.66%).