Assessment of genetic variability in biocontrol agents isolated from chickpea root complex using molecular markers.

Genetic variability among the six potential biocontrol agents isolated from chickpea root complex was studied using molecular techniques like RAPD, 16S rRNA and 16S rRNA-RFLP. The RAPD banding pattern reflected the genetic diversity among the isolates by formation of two clusters. A total of 48 reproducible and scorable polymorphic bands ranging approximately as low as 500 bp to as high as 2500 bp were generated with five RAPD primers viz.,OPA-11,OPA-12,OPA14,OPA-18 and OPD-3. The 16S region of rRNA amplification with specific 63F and 1387R primers produced approximately 1300bp in all the isolates confirmed that all the isolates obtained are bacteria. Studies by 16S rRNA-RFLP indicated that there was no polymorphism in restriction banding pattern among the isolates with the restriction endonucleases used.