Studies on Genetic Diversity and Phylogenetic Relationships Among Rice (Oryza Sativa L.) Genotypes Using Microsatellite Markers

Abstract

Genetic diversity, Phylogenetic Relationship and molecular characterization assessment among elite rice varieties is very important for germplasm management, varietal identification and DNA fingerprinting. Thirty-three microsatellite markers were studied across 33 rice accessions to characterize and discriminate among different varieties. The number of alleles per locus ranged from 1 to 3, with an average of 1.63 alleles across 33 loci. Polymorphic infonnation content (PIC) values ranged from 0.051 to 0.968, with an average of 0.457, which revealed that much variation was present among the studied varieties. The PIC values revealed that RM 1287 might be the best marker for identification and diversity estimation of rice varieties, followed by RM 124, RM 1 0871, RM 1 0852, RM 1, RM 21, RM 162, RM 189, RM 8094, RM 562, RM 20, RM 12, RM 152, RM 31 and RM 10 markers. The resolving power varied from 0.352 for RM 287 to 4.234 for RM 10 with an average value of 2.034 suggesting that the set of SSR primers used was capable of distinguishing among different genotypes. Primers RM I 0, RM 16, RM 20, RM 26, RM 31, RM 41 and RM 189 having above average resolving power value provided maximum accessions coverage in the rice genome. the values of PIC and RP, collectively indicated that primers RM 10, RM 20, RM 31 and RM 189 having above average PIC and RP were more efficient and also provided maximum accessions coverage in the rice genome. The UPGMA cluster dendrogram created in this study identified two groups with a similarity coefficient of 0.54. The SSR polymorphism and diversity could likely be attributed to pedigree. In this study, SSR marker RM 1287 was identified that produced specific alleles only in the aromatic rice varieties and was useful for varietal identification and DNA fingerprinting of these aromatic rice varieties. The findings of this study should be useful for varietal identification and could help in background selection in backcross breeding programs.