Plant Biotechnology
 

Molecular Biology and Genetics

Electronic Journal of Biotechnology ISSN: 0717-3458 Vol. 11 No. 3, Issue of July 15, 2008
© 2008 by Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso -- Chile Received September 26, 2007 / Accepted January 4, 2008
DOI: 10.2225/vol11-issue3-fulltext-3
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Genetic diversity analysis of traditional and improved cultivars of Pakistani rice (Oryza sativa L.) using RAPD markers

Malik Ashiq Rabbani*
Institute of Agri-Biotechnology & Genetic Resources
National Agricultural Research Center
Park Road, Islamabad, Pakistan
Tel: 92 51 9255199
Fax: 92 51 9255201
E-mail: rabbani316@yahoo.com

Zahida Hassan Pervaiz
Department of Biochemistry
Quaid-i-Azam University
Islamabad, Pakistan
Tel: 92 307 5383717
E-mail: zahidahasan82pk@yahoo.co.uk

Muhammad Shahid Masood
Institute of Agri-Biotechnology & Genetic Resources
National Agricultural Research Center
Park Road, Islamabad, Pakistan
Tel: 92 51 9255199
Fax: 92 51 9255201
Email: shahid617@yahoo.com

*Corresponding author

Financial support: This work was carried out under Agricultural Linkages Program. Authors are grateful to Pakistan Agricultural Research Council for the financial support from Agricultural Linkages Program under the AREF.

Keywords: cultivar discrimination, genetic variability, Oryza sativa, Pakistani rice, RAPDs.

Abbreviations:

AREF: Agricultural Research Endowment Fund
RAPD: Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA
UPGMA: unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic averages

Abstract   Full Text

The molecular marker is a useful tool for assessing genetic variations and resolving cultivar identities. Information on genetic diversity and relationships among rice genotypes from Pakistan is currently very limited. The objective of this study was to evaluate the genetic polymorphisms and identities of 10 traditional, 28 improved and 2 Japanese cultivars of rice using the random amplified polymorphic DNA technique. Twenty-five decamer-primers could generate a total of 208 RAPD fragments, of which 186 or 89.4% were polymorphic. The number of amplification products produced by each primer varied from 4 to 16 with an average of 8.3 bands primer-1. The size of amplified fragments were ranged from 200 to 4000 bp. Pair-wise Nei and Li’s similarity had estimated the range of 0.50 to 0.96 between rice cultivars. Based on analysis performed on a similarity matrix using UPGMA, 40 cultivars were grouped into 3 main clusters corresponding to aromatic, non-aromatic and japonica group. There were a few of independent cultivars. The cluster analysis had placed most of the aromatic cultivars into a close relation showing a high level of genetic relatedness. However, the clusters formed by the aromatic cultivars were distinct from those of non-aromatic and japonica types. Interestingly, a number of improved and traditional cultivars originating from diverse sources did not form well defined groups and were interspersed, indicating no association between the RAPD patterns and the geographic origin of the cultivars. The information generated from this study can be used to maximize selection of diverse parents and broaden the germplasm base in the future of rice breeding programs.

Supported by UNESCO / MIRCEN network