Characterization of Brassica napus (Canola) Germplasm Based on Microsatellite Markers
Muhammad Asif
Department of Biotechnology, Virtual University, Multan, Pakistan.
Zinnia Mansoor
Department of Biotechnology, Virtual University, Multan, Pakistan.
Syed Bilal Hussain
Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Bahauddin Zakariya University, 60800 Multan, Pakistan.
Muhammad Arshad
Department of Biotechnology, University of Okara, Okara, Pakistan.
Muhammad Babar
Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Bahauddin Zakariya University, 60800 Multan, Pakistan.
Tahir Naqqash *
Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Bahauddin Zakariya University, 60800 Multan, Pakistan.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Brassica napus L. is a major oilseed crop all over the world. The aim of this study was to investigate the genetic diversity of B. napus germplasm by using simple sequence repeats (SSR) markers. In the current study, ten SSR markers were used for studying genetic diversity of ten Brassica cultivars. Out of 110 total bands, 68 bands were polymorphic with 52.11% average polymorphism. Mean value of Nei’s genetic diversity and Polymorphism Information Content was 1.7, and 0.2630, respectively. These mean values show that there are moderate allelic differences between Brassica cultivars. The Nei’s genetic distance among various cultivars was 0.3281 and 0.125 which showed that germplasm of Brassica cultivars are different from each other, which is probably due to anthropogenic interventions and environmental factors. Thus, genetically different lines identified in this study could be employed in breeding programmes to develop higher-quality canola inbred varieties in future.
Keywords: Brassica napus, genetic diversity, simple sequence repeats, microsatellite.