Estimation of Genetic Diversity among the Rice (Oryza sativa L.) Genotypes using Microsatellite Markers

Abstract

Sixteen microsatellite markers were used to study the genetic diversity among 73 genotypes of rice from geographically diverse locations. Thirteen markers revealed polymorphism, while three were observed to show the monomorphic amplicons. The polymorphic markers produced total of 34 alleles with an average of 2.62 alleles per locus. Amplifi cation products ranged from 100 bp produced by marker K39512 to 220 bp produced by marker RM536. Polymorphism Information Content (PIC) value varied from 0.225 to 0.743 and the marker RM336 was observed to be most suitable for discriminating the genotypes owing to its highest PIC value. The UPGMA cluster diagram grouped the genotypes into eight major clusters. The Jaccard’s similarity coeffi cients ranged from 0.16 to 1.00.