Assessment of menthol mint collection for genetic variability and monoterpene biosynthetic potential

Eighteen accessions of Mentha arvensis var. piperascens Holmes from the CIMAP collection (CIMAP/C01 to CIMAP/ C18) consisting of wild collections and released varieties, their mutants, seed progeny and hybrids from the CIMAP gene bank were assessed for diversity through a combined morphochemical and molecular approach. Morphological characters, oil yield and essential oil components were taken into account to generate a cluster that outgrouped accession CIMAP/C05 from others. A total of 60 primers were used for RAPD and the tree generated after cluster analysis revealed accession CIMAP/C05 as the most diverse genotype. All the accessions exhibited diff erences in narrow range except CIMAP/C05. A wide range of compo- sitional diff erences were observed in the essential oil profi le of the genotypes indicating varying effi ciencies of conversion of one component into other and/or existing metabolic blocks in the essential oil biosynthetic pathway in them. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.