Genetic Diversity Assessment of Acacia crassicarpa by RAPD Markers

Abstract

   Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers were used to characterize the genetic diversity and relationships among 53 accessions of Acacia crassicarpa. A total of 56 markers were tested. The results indicated that 16 markers produced 142 alleles in which 131 were polymorphic (accounting for 92%) and of which 12 generated 100% polymorphic alleles with the size ranging from 250 bp to 3000 bp. Based on the genetic similarity of 53 accessions, two main clusters with the similarity index ranging from 0.47 - 0.99 were grouped by NTSYSpc 2.10 software. Cluster I included nine accessions, namely A.cr.S.6, A.cr.N.34, A.cr.S.38, A.cr.S.51, A.cr.N.81, A.cr.N.84, A.cr.N.86, A.cr.N.87 and A.Cr.N.147. Cluster II was composed of 44 remaining accessions which were divided into 3 sub-groups of level 1 (IIa, IIb and IIc). High level of polymorphism among Acacia accessions suggested that RAPD markers can be useful for A. crassicarpa germplasm characterization and conservation and efficient selection of for drought tolerance.