PLANT CELL BIOTECHNOLOGY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

Development of molecular markers for various desirable traits like disease resistance, drought tolerance, compact canopy, higher yield, etc hold great potential for crop improvement in a perennial crop like rubber tree where conventional breeding programmes may take decades for any fruitful results. This work focuses on the genetic relationship analysis between parent clones RRII 105, RRIC 100 and hybrids RRII 414, RRII 417, RRII 422, RRII 429 and RRII 430. Total genomic DNA was isolated from seven clones and was amplified by RAPD-PCR, using random oligonucleotide primers. The polymorphic bands were detected by agarose gel electrophoresis. The primers namely, OPA-2, OPB-1, OPB-7, OPB-8 and OPD-12 produced polymorphic bands while primer OPG-11 produced monomorphic banding pattern. The DNA fingerprinting scoring analysis was performed to identify the pattern of inheritance. The polymorphic band obtained by primer OPD-12 was cloned and sequence characterized. The nucleotide sequence was compared with GenBank database using BLAST N programme and it was found that the polymorphic band was a novel sequence. The polymorphic bands showed the direct relationship of one of the parent with the hybrid clone. Key Words: Hevea brasiliensis, Para Rubber Tree, RAPD analysis, DNA fingerprinting, Cloning. Abbreviations: RAPD-Random amplified polymorphic DNA, PCR-Polymerase chain reaction, RRII-Rubber Research Institute of India, RRIC-Rubber research institute of Ceylon.