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Abstract
Members of the genus Sapindus L. (Sapindaceae), commonly known as soap nut, are commercially important plants, that are found both wild and introduced in tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world, predominantly in Indo-Malayasia. Three species, Sapindus emarginatus Vahl, S. mukorossi Gaertn. and S. trifoliatus L., occur in India. In this study, ISSR markers were used to unravel the genetic diversity in soap nut (S. mukorossi) genotypes of Western Himalaya. A total of 54 S. mukorossi genotypes and one accession of Lepisanthes tetraphylla Vahl. as the out-group were considered. ISSR analysis resulted in 258 bands obtained with 20 primers. Out of these, 152 bands were polymorphic revealing 58.91% polymorphism across all genotypes of S. mukorossi. The genetic distance value varied from 0.02 to 0.37 across different genotypes. The results show that ISSR profiles are sufficiently informative and useful to unravel the genetic variations among soap nut plants in the Western Himalayas. The information on genetic diversity of soap nut could further be utilized in the breeding of genetically divergent and geographically isolated populations to obtain better germplasm in terms of yield and quality.
Acknowledgements
The authors are thankful to the Director of the National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow, for the use of facilities and the Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi (DST No: SP/SOPS-81/05), for financial support.