Analysis of genetic relationship in mutant silkworm strains of Bombyx mori using inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers.

Amplified inter simple sequence repeats (ISSR) markers were used to determine genetic relationships among mutant silkworm strains of Bombyx mori. Fifteen ISSR primers containing simple sequence repeat (SSR) motifs were used in this study. A total of 113 markers were produced among 20 mutant strains, of which 73.45% were found to be polymorphic. In selected mutant genetic stocks, the average number of observed allele was (1.7080+/-0.4567), effective alleles (1.5194+/-0.3950) and genetic diversity (Ht) (0.2901+/-0.0415). The dendrogram produced using the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic means (UPGMA) and cluster analysis made using Nei's genetic distance resulted in the formation of one major group containing 6 groups separated 20 mutant silkworm strains. Therefore, ISSR amplification is a valuable method for determining the genetic variability among mutant silkworm strains. This efficient molecular marker would be useful for characterizing a considerable number of silkworm strains maintained at the germplasm center.