Molecular analyses of genetic variability in soap nut (Sapindus mukorossi Gaertn.)

Sapindus mukorossi Gaertn. (Sapindaceae) is commercially an important plant much valued for its fruits commonly known as soap nut as well as for the seed oil used as a feed-stock for biodiesel production. Molecular polymorphism, determined, using three single primer amplification reaction (SPAR) methods (RAPD, DAMD and ISSR) is used to assess the genetic variability in 69 accessions of S. mukorossi Gaertn., encompassing different geographical regions in India. Cumulative band data generated using the three SPAR methods resulted in 82.49% polymorphism across all genotypes of S. mukorossi Gaertn. UPGMA tree showed two major clusters that were in accordance with the geographical diversity. The intra-population genetic diversity (0.16). Shannon information index (0.24) and polymorphic loci (45.62%) were highest in AS population, while the corresponding lowest values were recorded in HP population. The inter-population average distance ranged from 0.05 (GA and HP) to 0.26 (AP and HP). Based on these distances, the UPGMA tree for the populations was computed, which showed the presence of two major clusters. Cluster I contained all the populations from Himachal Pradesh (HP) and Uttarakhand (GA and KU) and cluster II grouped the populations from North Eastern region (AS, AP, MG). The present study showed that SPAR methods are informative and useful to unravel the diversity among different populations of the soap nut plants and is a prelude for further utilization of promising and genetically divergent materials in the breeding programmes. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.