Development of microsatellite markers and their correlation with morphological and chemical markers in Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal

The genetic variation and relationships among 14 Withania accessions were evaluated using morphological, chemical and Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) markers. Wild accessions are more robust and better performing in morphological and chemical metabolite accumulation than cultivated one. The results revealed that out of fourteen, four primers showed distinct polymorphism, indicating the robust nature of microsatellites in revealing polymorphism. The banding pattern was recorded in the form of 0-1 data sheet which was analyzed using unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) based on Jaccard's similarity coefficient. The cluster analysis showed higher level of genetic variation among the accessions. Similarity coefficients ranged from 0.125 to 1. The dendrogram revealed 3 major distinct clusters. Higher range of similarity values for related genotypes using simple sequence repeats (SSR) provides greater confidence for the assessment of genetic diversity and relationships. The polymorphism information content (PIC) value for the SSR loci ranged from 0.0 to 0.40. Higher PIC values were associated with higher level of polymorphism. Results of this study showed a high degree of variation among analyzed accessions, indicating an important source of genetic diversity that can be used in future breeding programs