Evaluation of Genetic Diversity of Piper betle cultivars using ISSR markers

Betel vine (Piper betle) is an important cash crop of India. ISSR markers were used to assess the genetic diversity and relationships of 15 cultivars of betelvine. Out of 28 ISSR primers tested, 18 were selected for their reproducibility, reliability and high polymorphism. Eighteen ISSR primers amplified 138 bands with 118 (85.51%) polymorphic ones. Average polymorphic information content (PIC) was 0.32 over all primers used. The genetic diversity and relatedness among 15 betelvine cultivars was computed using Jaccard’s similarity coefficient. The dendrogram grouped cultivars in 3 main clusters. PCA (principal component analysis) results were comparable to cluster analysis. The results suggested that ISSR markers can successfully reveal variability among the cultivars. ISSR can be useful for genetic diversity studies, to provide practical information for parental selection and to assist breeding programs.