Assessment of genetic diversity in maize inbred lines using RAPD markers

Abstract

RAPD molecular markers were used to analyze genetic diversity between 16 corn lines. Twenty-two primerswere used resulting in the amplification of 265 fragments, of which 237 (84.44%) were polymorphic. Using the UPGMAmethod the genetic associations obtained showed 5 distinct heterotic groups. A principal coordinates analysis also showed anassociation of lines in 5 groups, in agreement with the results observed in the dendrogram. A bootstrap procedure wasapplied to verify whether the amount of markers used was sufficient to ensure reliability of the results, the procedure showeda coefficient of variation of 8.3%, suggesting that the markers were sufficient to assess genetic diversity between the analyzedlines. The high rate of polymorphism between lines revealed by RAPD markers indicated that the method is efficient to analyzegenetic diversity in corn lines and that the genetic divergence can be used to establish consistent heterotic groups between cornlines.

Keywords

• corn
• distance genetic
• molecular markers
• polymorphism.