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A comparative study on the basis of detailed morphological characters of four species of Piper L., viz. - Piper betle L., Piper nigrum L., Piper longum L. and Piper retrofractum Vahl., from southern districts of West Bengal, India was performed to draw a systematic conclusion. Both qualitative and quantitative morphological traits were considered. The usefulness of potential morphometric features was identified. Principle Component Analysis (PCA) and Multivariate Cluster Analysis (UPGMA) were used in establishing a systematic interrelationship among the taxa under study. In this study, potential morphometric traits were identified which were valuable in classifying these taxa. This study found highest level of similarity between P. longum L. and P. retrofractum Vahl., whereas, Pnigrum L. has least affinity with other three taxa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The genus Glochidion, a member of the family Phyllanthaceae, primarily comprises shrub or tree species. It stands out from other genera due to distinctive reproductive features, including prolonged styles in flowers and fruits, apiculate anthers, and lobed and unlobed capsules. This study aimed to compare the morphological characteristics of nine taxa in Assam to facilitate identification and assess ethnobotanical knowledge. Ethnobotanical information was gathered by interviewing the local community, and a taxonomic key was provided for accurate identification. Morphological data underwent principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis using PAST for validation. The comparison revealed distinct characteristics in both vegetative and reproductive traits among Glochidion members. Reproductive features, such as inflorescence, style, ovary, and capsules, were key factors for differentiation and identification. PCA and cluster analysis demonstrated correlation and variation among the taxa, contributing significantly to their demarcation. Ethnobotanical studies indicated the genus's potential medicinal properties, supported by both primary and secondary information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Greengram is the fourth dominant pulse crop grown in India and is highly susceptible to bruchids and yellow mosaic virus. Ricebean belonging to the tertiary genepool of greengram shows resistance to this pest and disease. Ricebean being a minor pulse crop has limited SSR markers. Hence, the present study was conducted to test the cross-species amplification of SSR markers derived from related species which could be helpful in studying the molecular diversity available in each crop and for molecular confirmation of the inter-and intra-specific hybrid developed from the crosses. Methods: Molecular diversity analysis was carried out using 30 genotypes belonging to two species of Vigna (V. radiata and V. umbellata) based on 20 SSR primers derived from adzukibean, commonbean and greengram. Result: Cross species amplification was observed for all the SSR primers pairs used. The number of alleles detected varied from one (VJ 31122A) to four (CEDAAG 001 and MB 91) with an average of 2.55 alleles per primer. Allele size varied from 100 to 292 bp. The PIC value ranged from zero to 0.611 with an average value of 0.377. Dendrograms constructed based on UPGMA and Neighbour-Joining tree method, grouped the genotypes into five clusters and five groups, respectively. The V. umbellata genotypes were grouped in separate cluster from the V. radiata genotypes in both the methods. The obtained DNA polymorphism at intra- and inter-specific level will facilitate the application of molecular breeding approaches for greengram improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Commiphora wightii (Arn.) Bhandari (Guggul) is native to semi-arid to arid zones. Its oleoresin gum is used for both medicinal and non-medicinal applications. Reportedly, the species faces highdegree conservation threats. A network of Four Medicinal Plants Conservation Areas (MPCA) was carved out in Kachchh region- under financial support from National Medicinal Plants Board. The species also occurs in sanctuary and protected by default. It is considered important to assess genetic diversity of these conserved populations. Methods: A total of 38 accessions of Guggul leaves were collected from five study sites and the whole genomic DNA was extracted for each sample. Genetic study was carried out using ISSR technique. Scorable bands were obtained for 14 out of 40 primers tested. A total of 49 bands were obtained of which 20 were polymorphic in nature. UPGMA dendrograms were constructed for individual sites and also a collective dendrogram for all the study sites. Results: All the 8 accessions of Tharawada MPCA were observed to share a high similarity coefficient. Among rest of three sites, genetic diversity was seen to be narrow. The accessions obtained from NSWS displayed good diversity. These accessions were also noted to be distant to the populations captured in the MPCA sites. Conclusions: Established MPCA sites capture the available gene pool of Commiphora wightii of Kachchh region. Since NSWS populations are distant to rest of the region, it is suggested to create another site for this purpose. It is desirable to assess the genetic diversity in rest of the MPCA sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present investigation was undertaken to decipher multivariate diversity, variability, genetic parameters and traits association in Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal), genotypes for the yield of a dry root, total alkaloids in root and agro-morphological traits. A total of 16 genotypes were evaluated at three experimental sites in Gujarat, India. A randomized complete block design with two replications was used to conduct the trial. Pooled ANOVA results showed highly significant differences (p < 0.001) among the genotypes (G), environments (E) and G x E interactions. Higher phenotypic and genotypic coefficient of variation values were recorded for yield and agro-morphological traits indicating variation and scope of improvement through selection based on phenotypes. Higher heritability associated with greater genetic advance for the majority of traits showed a prevalence of additive gene effect and thus, phenotypic selection will be more productive. Based on the similarity of traits within and between members of clusters, genotypes were divided into five clusters. The principal component analysis (PCA) showed that most of the differences (76.90%) were explained by the first four PCA. The correlation analysis implies that improving one or more components traits could result in enhancement in root yield and total alkaloid content in ashwagandha. Genetic variability was present for the traits under study in the tested genotypes. Hybridization of genotypes from different clusters could be able to yield new genotypes combining high yield and other desirable yield-contributing traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Sapindus emarginatus is an economically important tropical tree species sparsely distributed in different geographical provinces like Gangetic Plains, Western Ghats, and Deccan Plateau in India. In the present paper estimation of genetic variability within and among 41 accessions representing five populations was carried out using 3 single primer amplification reaction (SPAR) methods viz. RAPD, DAMD and ISSR. The cumulative data analysis was carried out for all three SPAR methods, and showed 82.32% polymorphism across all the accessions of S. emarginatus. Jaccard''s similarity values among 41 accessions ranged from 0.15 to 0.49 with an average value of 0.37. The intra-population genetic diversity revealed highest values of Nei''s genetic diversity (0.19,) Shannon information index (0.29) and polymorphic loci (55.18%), among the accessions of Gujarat (GJ) population, while the corresponding lowest values were (0.10), (0.15) and (26.40%) respectively among the accessions of Rajasthan (RJ) population. The maximum inter-population average genetic distance (0.20) was between Karnataka (KA) and RJ, while the corresponding least genetic distance (0.06) was between Allahabad (AL) and Varanasi (VS) populations. The analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) revealed maximum percentage of variation among individuals of populations (72%) followed by 16% among regions and 12% among populations. Principal coordinate analysis (PCA) of cumulative data also supported the clustering pattern in the UPGMA dendrogram. These results suggest that genetic diversity is corroborating with the geographical diversity. Mantel''s test was performed which revealed a highly significant correlation between cumulative vs RAPD, and showed the maximum (0.93) correlation coefficient, followed by cumulative vs ISSR (0.78) and cumulative vs DAMD (0.91) respectively, and this clearly indicates that the SPAR methods (RAPD, DAMD and ISSR) are sufficiently informative and are suitable to analyze the genetic variability within and among the populations of S. emarginatus. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: 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. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Analysis of polymorphism in ISSR amplicons revealed diverse genetic relationship between Citrus indica and five other citrus species. In a consensus UPGMA dendrogram, based on Nei and Li''s distance matrices, the C. indica samples from three different sites of Meghalaya, India were clustered together with 99% bootstrap support. C. reticulata, C. sinensis, C. aurantifolia formed a cluster with 67% bootstrap separation. C. macroptera and C. maxima samples from two sites of Meghalaya formed separate clusters with respectively 100% and 98% bootstrap supports. Principal Components Analysis projected C. indica to be more closely related to C. aurantifolia than to the other citrus species of the study. PCA also exposed variations within the C. maxima and C. macroptera samples. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Genetic diversity among four geographically isolated populations of an Indian freshwater turtle, Lissemys punctata, was studied using seven metabolically important isozyme/allozymes as genetic markers. A total of twenty-three alleles at fourteen protein- coding loci were identified, six of these loci were monomorphic and the remaining eight were polymorphic. The result suggests that the geographic populations of L. punctata sampled can be characterized by a total genetic diversity of 0.180(mean HT) with an average of 1.64 alleles per locus. The average proportion of polymorphic loci per population was estimated to be 1.75. The UPGMA tree of genetic relationship indicated significant differentiation among populations. The results also showed that the geographical and genetic distances are not correlated in these populations of L. punctata. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drumstick (Moringa oleifera Lam.) is an important vegetable as well as forage crop of arid and semi-arid zones of the tropics. The leaves and pods of the plant are rich sources of minerals and vitamins. In the present work, genetic diversity study of 23 genotypes of M. oleifera collected from Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka states of India was carried out using seven cytochrome P450 (CytP450) markers. By using seven pairs of CytP450 gene-based markers, 88.25% of polymorphism was recorded among the 23 sampled genotypes. The Polymorphic Information Content (PI), Marker Index (MI) and Resolving Power obtained for seven primers were estimated 0.23, 2.96 and 9.83, respectively. The Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic mean (UPGMA) dendrogram based on this marker data indicate that genotypes from different geographical regions are placed in the same clusters. The dendrogram and Principal Coordinates Analysis (PCoA) plots derived from the binary data matrices were highly concordant. The investigation, in brief, proved that CytP450 based marker system is efficient in the elucidation of genetic diversity in M. oleifera accessions.

Genetic variability in the wild genotypes of Dendrobium nobile Lindl. collected from different parts of Northeast India, was analyzed using a Start Codon Targeted (SCoT) marker system. A total of sixty individuals comprising of six natural populations were investigated for the existing natural genetic diversity. One hundred and thirty two (132) amplicons were produced by SCoT marker generating 96.21% polymorphism. The PIC value of the SCoT marker system was 0.78 and the Rp values of the primers ranged between 4.43 and 7.50. The percentage of polymorphic loci (Pp) ranging from 25% to 56.82%, Nei's gene diversity (h) from 0.08 to 0.15 with mean Nei's gene diversity of 0.28, and Shannon's information index (I) values ranging from 0.13 to 0.24 with an average value of 0.43 were recorded. The gene flow value (0.37) and the diversity among populations (0.57) demonstrated higher genetic variation among the populations. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) showed 43.37% of variation within the populations, whereas 56.63% variation was recorded among the populations. Cluster analysis also reveals high genetic variation among the genotypes. Present investigation suggests the effectiveness of SCoT marker system to estimate the genetic diversity of D. nobile and that it can be seen as a preliminary point for future research on the population and evolutionary genetics of this endangered orchid species of medicinal importance., (© 2013.)