Analysis of genetic diversity through AFLP, SAMPL, ISSR and RAPD markers in Tribulus terrestris, a medicinal herb.

Tribulus terrestris is well known for its medicinal importance in curing urino-genital disorders. Amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP), selective amplification of microsatellite polymorphic loci (SAMPL), inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) and randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers were used for the first time for the detection of genetic polymorphism in this medicinal herb from samples collected from various geographical regions of India. Six assays each of AFLP and SAMPL markers and 21 each of ISSR and RAPD markers were utilized. AFLP yielded 500 scorable amplified products, of which 82.9% were polymorphic. SAMPL primers amplified 488 bands, 462 being polymorphic (94.7%). The range of amplified bands was 66 [(TC)(8)G + M-CAG] to 98 [(CA)(6)AG + M-CAC] and the percentage polymorphism, 89.9 [from (CT)(4)C (AC)(4)A + M-CTG] to 100 [from (GACA)(4) + M-CTA]. The ISSR primers amplified 239 bands of 0.4-2.5 kb, 73.6% showed polymorphism. The amplified products ranged from 5 to 16 and the percentage polymorphism 40-100. RAPD assays produced 276 bands, of which 163 were polymorphic (59%). Mantel test employed for detection of goodness of fit established cophenetic correlation values above 0.9 for all the four marker systems. The dendrograms and PCA plots derived from the binary data matrices of the four marker systems are highly concordant. High bootstrap values were obtained at major nodes of phenograms through WINBOOT software. The relative efficiency of the four molecular marker systems calculated on the basis of multiplex ratio, marker index and average heterozygosity revealed SAMPL to be the best. Distinct DNA fingerprinting profile, unique to every geographical region could be obtained with all the four molecular marker systems. Clustering can be a good indicator for clear separation of genotypes from different regions in well-defined groups that are supported by high bootstrap values.