SSR Marker Based Molecular Genetic Diversity Analysis Among Saccharum spontaneum (L.) Collected from North Western Region of India

Abstract

Saccharum spontaneum L. is the most diverse species of the genus Saccharum with the widest distribution from Africa-Mediterranean region to Far East including South Pacific islands. Its contribution in the development of present day sugarcane cultivars is well recognized. In the present study, 30 S. spontaneum L. clones collected from North Western India including Gujarat and Rajasthan were characterized with respect to their ecological distribution using 20 STMS (Sequence Tagged Microsatellite Site) primers. The study revealed the ability of STMS markers in discriminating the clones with specific markers with 95.4% polymorphism. The pair wise genetic distance among 30 S. spontaneum L. clones ranged from 0.17 to 0.48 with an average of 0.32. The maximum genetic distance was observed between the pairs IND 07-1462 and IND 08-1501 & IND 07-1464 and IND 08-1501. All the 30 S. spontaneum L. clones were grouped into five different major clusters. Among the five clusters, Cluster II had maximum of nine accessions viz., IND 07-1461, IND 07-1462, IND 07-1463, IND 07-1465, IND 07-1466, IND 07-1467, IND 07-1468, IND 07-1470 and IND 07-1474. All the accessions except IND 07-1474 were from Kachchh district of North West arid zone which is characterized with low rainfall and high salinity. Majority of the clones clustered as per the agro-climatic zones. Unique markers for the clone IND 07-1460, IND 07-1463 and IND 07-1482 were identified which could help in maintaining germplasm identity. Most of the clones from arid and semi arid zones were grouped in the same cluster. These clones were collected from the regions where drought and salinity are prevalent hence these clones could be the potential sources for developing climate resilient sugarcane varieties with drought and salinity tolerance