Genetic diversity of Aquilaria microcarpa Baill. in Kalimantan using RAPD Markers

Abstract

Abstract Aquilaria microcarpa is one of the agarwood producers species included in the endangered category based on the IUCN red list. Kalimantan is one of the natural distributions of this species. The high demand for agarwood causes this species to be commonly cultivated in community plantations. This study aimed to assess the genetic diversity of A. microcarpa using the RAPD markers. Forty-four leaf samples of A.microcarpa were collected from the local community in Gumbil (South Kalimantan) and Sanggau (West Kalimantan). The results showed that 9 out of 24 RAPD primers were stable in amplification, and polymorphic totally consisted of 49 polymorphic loci. The values of unbiased expected heterozygosity (uHE) were at a low level; they ranged between 0.152 (Gumbil II) to 0.249 (Gumbil I). The average genetic distance between Gumbil and Sanggau is 0.1733, related to their geographic distance. A private allele was only found at Gumbil at locus G18/540 and Sanggau at locus G18/550, respectively. A great DA value between Gumbil I and II showed that the plantations originated from different seed sources. AMOVA also verified the differences between the two populations. This finding has important implications in managing plantations and seeds transfer.