Molecular diversity of Coconut populations in Baracoa region

Abstract

Molecular characterization of 37 coconut (Cocos nucifera L.) ecotypes from a natural population of Baracoa municipality, Guantánamo province, was carried out by using Inverse Sequence Tagged Repeat (ISTR) technique. This method was able to detect the high polymorphism (93%) of the evaluated population showing its usefulness for studies on molecular diversity in coconut. The identification percentage was also relatively high (Pi= 86%) suggesting that the selected primer combinations could be used for the ecotype identification studies on coconut populations of Baracoa. Evaluation of the diversity in different coconut ecotypes by means of ISTR markers showed a low level of variability within the population studied in Baracoa region. These data suggest that coconut populations in this zone have been originated from coconuts with a relatively small quantity of seeds or even from introduced materials from populations of low diversity. Key words: molecular markers, polymorphism, variability