DNA Fingerprinting and Genetic Diversity Analysis in Advanced Clones of Sugarcane (Saccharum sp. complex) Using STMS Markers

Abstract

Abstract The objective of this study was to analyze genetic diversity between nine advanced sugarcane clones and five commercial cultivars using 15 STMS markers. Out of these markers, three were genomic-SSR, eleven were EST-SSR, and one marker (NKS69) was recommended by ICAR-Sugarcane Breeding Institute (SBI) for molecular profiling of sugarcane clones. All the molecular markers exhibited distinct bands, that could be utilized for the identification of different varieties based on their presence or absence. The PIC values among these markers ranged from 0.60 to 0.92. The marker NKS9 displayed the highest PIC value of 0.92, closely followed by NKS17 with a value of 0.91. Additionally, markers NKS6, NKS11, NKS17, and NKS34 showed the highest percentage of polymorphic bands, reaching 100%. As per the analysis of genetic diversity, the similarity coefficients ranged from 0.43 to 0.96, indicating significant genetic variability among the clones. When the similarity coefficient was 0.64, the clones were categorized into two main clusters. Notably, the sister lines CoPant 12226 and CoPant 13224 exhibited the highest similarity coefficient of 0.96, placing them in the same cluster. The greatest genetic diversity, with a similarity coefficient of 0.43, was observed between CoPant 12226 and Co 05011, as well as between CoPant 16222 and CoPant 17224. In view of the above, the DNA fingerprinting of these advanced clones during the present investigation proves to be valuable for plant variety protection, and the identified diverse clones can be utilized in future breeding programs.

Keywords

• Sugarcane
• DNA fingerprinting
• Genetic diversity
• STMS
• Molecular marker