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Title: A comparative analysis of genetic diversity in bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.) genotypes using RAPD and ISSR markers

Author
item BEHERA, TUSAR - AG RESEARCH INST INDIA
item SINGH, A - UNIV OF CA RIVERSIDE
item Staub, Jack

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/20/2007
Publication Date: 7/28/2007
Citation: Behera, T., Singh, A.K., Staub, J.E. 2007. A comparative analysis of genetic diversity in bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.) genotypes using RAPD and ISSR markers [abstract]. American Society for Horticultural Science 104th Annual Conference. 42(4):915.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.) or bitter melon is a cucurbit of major economic importance where it is widely cultivated (India, China, Africa, and South America). The morphology (i.e., growth habit, maturity, and fruit shape, size, colour and surface texture) of Indian M. charantia germplasm (var. minima and maxima) is genetically diverse and gynoecious sex forms exist. Genomic differences exist in the Cucurbitaceae, and therefore DNA marker analysis was employed to investigate and compare genetic diversity among 38 elite genotypes, using 29 RAPD and 15 ISSR markers using cluster analysis. Twenty-nine RAPD primers yielded 208 amplicons of which 76 (36.5%) were polymorphic, with an average of 2.6 polymorphisms observed per primer. The number of RAPD amplicons ranged from 3 (OPE-19, OPW-09) to 15 (OPW-05), and varied in size from 200 - 3000 bp. Fifteen ISSR primers generated a total of 125 bands of which 96 (74.7%) were polymorphic. The number of polymorphic markers ranged from 0 (UBC-841) to 12 (UBC-890) with a mean of 6.3 markers per primer where amplicon sizes ranged from 150 -2700 bp. ISSR markers detected a higher level of polymorphisms (74.7%) in M. charantia when compared to RAPD markers (36.5%). An evaluation (Mantel test) between two Jaccard’s similarity matrices was high (r=0.77), indicating a relatively high correlation between RAPD- and ISSR-based similarities. Cluster groupings of genotypes within sub-groups derived from RAPD and ISSR marker analysis were not similar. In contrast, concordant genotype cluster groups remained were, in the main, the same when ISSR and combined RAPD + ISSR analyses were compared. M. charantia var. minima and maxima were distinct.