Molecular analysis of genetic diversity in population of Silybum marianum (L.) Gaertn in Egypt

Abstract

Background: Silybum marianum L. Gaertn is a medicinal plant of unique pharmaceutical properties in the treatment of liver disorders and diabetic nephropathy. Biochemical (SDS-PAGE) and molecular markers such as randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSR) technologies were used in this work to detect genetic diversity of 14 collections of Silybum marianum population in Egypt. Results: The electrophoretic pattern of seed protein gave different molecular weight bands, ranging from 24 to 111 KDa with the presence of unique bands. RAPD results revealed a high level of polymorphism (73.2%) using 12 RAPD primers, but only eight of them gave reproducible polymorphic DNA pattern. Sixteen primers were used in the ISSR method; only ten of them yielded clearly identifiable bands. The percentage of polymorphism is about 80% of the studied samples. Conclusion: The obtained data confirmed that SDS-protein, RAPD, and ISSR markers are important tools for genetic analysis for Silybum marianum and recommended to give accurate results.