Molecular diversity analysis of lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) through RAPD markers

Abstract

Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers were used to study the molecular genetic diversity analysis among six BARI released lentil varieties viz. BARI masur-1, BARI masur-2, BARI masur-3, BARI masur-4, BARI masur-5 and BARI masur-6. PCR amplified products were visualized on 1.0% agarose gel and the band for each primer were scored. Ten RAPD markers were used in this study. Out of them 7 primers showed amplification of 53 DNA fragments with 60.37% of them being polymorphic. The highest number of polymorphic loci was noticed in the variety BARI masur-3. The same variety also showed maximum Nei's gene diversity value (0.0552). The highest Nei's genetic distance (0.5002) was observed in BARI masur-1 vs. BARI masur-5 whereas, the lowest genetic distance (0.0692) was found in BARI masur-1 vs. BARI masur-2. The unweighted pair group method of arithmetic mean (UPGMA) dendrogram based on Nei's genetic distance grouped the six cultivars into two main clusters. BARI masur-1, BARI masur-2 and BARI masur-3 were in cluster I and BARI masur-4, BARI masur-5 and BARI masur-6 were in cluster II. The cultivar BARI masur-4 was closest to the cultivar BARI masur-6 with the lowest genetic distance (0.0972) and the highest genetic distance (0.5002) was found between BARI masur-1 and BARI masur-5. The RAPD markers were found to be useful in molecular characterization of lentil varieties which could be utilized by the breeders for the improvement of lentil cultivars.