Study of Genetic Diversity among Philodendron Varieties by Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA Markers

In the present study, Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers were used to analyze the genetic diversity in 20 varieties of Philodendron. The polymerase chain reaction was performed with 60 RAPD primers, out of which 21 primers showed clear amplification as well as more polymorphism. In total, 354 scorable RAPD loci with 348 polymorphic bands (98%) were observed. Percentages of polymorphic bands ranged from 80% to 100%. Amplified DNA fragments were used for statistical analysis. The data was obtained by scoring the bands and analyzed by using STATISTICA software. A dendrogram was obtained by cluster analysis based on the presence or absence of band which indicates similarity and diversities. The cluster analysis grouped the Philodendron varieties based on the growth habits, morphological characters and also geographical origin. This indicates that there is an association between the RAPD patterns and the geographic origin of the varieties used. The genetic diversity among the varieties was moderate, which might be due to genetically heterozygous and somaclonal variation.