Archive | 2021
Molecular characterization of Canna indica L. based on random amplified polymorphic DNA markers
Abstract
Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers were employed for characterization, assessment of genetic variation and inferring relationships among six variants of Canna indica L. A total of 198 RAPD bands ranging from 200 bp to 3 kbp were generated by all the six variants. Among them, most of the bands were found to be polymorphic, four band were unique of which two bands (OPA022000 and OPA043000) were observed in the variant 2 (small red) and the other two (OPA013000 and OPA053000) were noticed in the variant 4 (orange), and the remaining bands were found to be monomorphic. The pair-wise genetic distance was determined among the six variants that ranged from 0.1446 to 0.6554. A dendogram was constructed based on the RAPD profiling to infer the relationship among the six variants of C. indica that resulted in two major clusters: the first one contained two variants, viz. variant 1 (local red) and variant 2 (small red), while the second cluster composed of the remaining four variants. The results as revealed from the RAPD analysis were found congruent with those of morphological and anatomical investigation of the species. Introduction The family Cannaceae, comprising the single genus Canna L. is widely distributed throughout the tropical regions. Cannas are worthy garden perennials because of their ornamental value, and the flowering perennial carries an exotic beauty to garden sites with its showy flowers and sometimes with very colourful leaves. In global context, Cannas are one of the popular garden plants, and a large horticultural industry depends on this plant. The commonly cultivated garden Cannas are mostly of hybrid origin, with Canna indica as the principal parent (Cronquist, 1981). The genus Canna is composed of only 8-10 wild species, and over 1,000 hybrids which are used as garden ornamentals in Europe, North America and many tropical countries (Patra et al., 2008). Canna is considered to be native in Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and tropical South America, West Indies and Central America (Heywood, 1993). In Bangladesh, Canna is represented by a single species, Canna indica, and is found in almost all over the country as well as planted in many gardens. The genus Canna testifies economical, horticultural and medicinal values. The rhizome of Cannas is rich in starch with multifarious uses in agriculture. Rootstock of Canna indica is diaphoretic, diuretic and demulcent, and decoction of root is used in fevers, dropsy and dyspepsia. Seed extract is administered for relieving earache (Ghani, 2003). Young shoots are eaten as green vegetables. The leaves are suitable for wrapping and as plates; both the leaves and the rhizomes Department of Botany, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Science & Technology University, Gopalganj 8100, Bangladesh. Department of Botany, University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh. *Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]