Genetic Diversity of Scanty Available Himalayan Saussurea obvallata (DC.) Edgew.

Saussurea obvallata (DC.) Edgew. of Asteraceae family is an endangered plant species used for traditional, cultural and religious purposes. The species is not systematically explored till date at global level. Here, we show the genetic variation and gene flow evaluation within and among the population of S. obvallata from different sites of Uttarakhand region of India by utilizing ten ISSR primers. The result showed 59 polymorphic loci in 30 studied individuals and 100% polymorphism in all the fragments. Number of alleles for each locus (Na), Shannon’s index (I), number of effective alleles per locus (Ne) and Nei’s gene diversity (H) were calculated to be 1.59, 1.52, 0.38 and 0.27, respectively. The mean polymorphic loci percentage (Pp%) was found 60%, whereas genetic differentiation level (Gst) amid population were 39.37% and 60.63% genetic variation found among and within populations, respectively. The molecular variance partitioning by AMOVA demonstrated a noteworthy genetic differentiation within (66%) and among (44%) populations. The study revealed the lowest gene flow level among all studied populations of S. obvallata; therefore, the use of modern biotechnological interventions is recommended for conservation and sustainable utilization of this valuable species.