Genetic Divergence of Flax Genotypes (Linum Usitatissimum L.) Utilizing Microsatellite Markers

Abstract

Flax (Linum usitatissimum L.), stoods in position third, being the largest natural fibre crop and simultaneously one of the five preeminent oilseed crops in the world. SSR/microsatellite markers are extensively utilized for genetic diversity analysis and cultivar identification considering their myriad abundance, co-dominant inheritance, steep polymorphism, reproducibility, and comfort of assay by PCR. Ten microsatellites were amplified in 27 genotypes of Flax. The study was undertaken to assess the genetic diversity in flax and to select most diverse genotypes for future breeding program. Primer efficiency parameters were studied. The 10 SSR loci amplified a total of 41 alleles that were used for genetic analysis. Most primers have PIC value greater than 0.5 and the LU6 marker was highly polymorphic PIC = 0.95. Estimates of RP̅ were highest for the primer LU1 (0.68). The maximum MI was observed for the primer LU10 (3.56). The H and D ranged from 0.26 to 1.78 and 0.36 to 5.40, respectively. According to Spearman rank correlation, PIC and MI were most important parameters in assessing the efficiency of whole set of 10 SSR primers. Dendrogram was constructed using the genetic similarity coefficients using UPGMA. PCo-A was also performed in support. Genetic diversity in Flax was revealed at molecular level.