INTRA-SPECIES COMPARISON OF MARSILEA MINUTA LINN. AND MARSILEA QUADRIFOLIA LINN. USING RAPD MARKERS TO ANALYZE THE GENETIC VARIATIONS

Objective: Marsilea minuta Linn. and Marsilea quadrifolia Linn. are considered to be the important plant species in Ayurvedic system of Medicine with high medicinal values. Since thousands of years the use of plants as complementary medicine is in existence. These plants have medicinal properties useful to treat hepatitis, diabetes, snake bite, inflammation, and infertility. As part of characterization in modern terms, we need to explore and study them on the basis of genetic polymorphism and evolutionary aspects. Methods: In molecular evolutionary genetics, gene mapping, and plant breeding; RAPD markers have a wide range of applications. In this study a set of 25 plants RAPD universal primers (RPI 1 – RPI 25) were used for amplification. The amplification products were compared and the phylogenetic tree was drawn with the help of bioinformatics tool UPGMA (Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic Mean). Results: The RAPD PCR (Random Amplification of Polymorphic DNA- Polymerase chain reaction) amplification resulted in different successive polymorphic banding patterns with primers in both the plants. The amplification products were compared and the phylogenetic tree was drawn with the help of bioinformatics tool UPGMA. Conclusion: The RAPD PCR polymorphism and UPGMA study of these plants have not been reported yet. Hence RAPD PCR patterns of both these important species would help in relating them at the genetic and evolutionary level.