Genetic relationships and diversity of <i>Jatropha curcas</i> accessions in Malaysia

Abstract

This study has been undertaken to assess the extent of genetic diversity in a representative set of 16 accessions of Jatropha curcas. Inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) analysis was used to establish the genetic relationship among the accessions. From the eight ISSR primers used, the number of amplicons per primers varied from 2 (I7) to 14(UBC834) and the amplicon size from 151 bp to 2779 bp. Out of a total of 63 bands, 25 (40%) were polymorphic with an average of 4.16 polymorphic bands per primer. Jaccard’s coefficient of similarity varied from 0.72 to 1, indicating low level of genetic variation among the studied genotypes. UPGMA cluster analysis indicated five main clusters with the highest number of accession grouped under cluster II. Although, the grouping was not related to location sources, there was a close genetic relationship among the Jatropha accessions represented. This indicated that the accessions were derived from the same source when they were introduced to Malaysia.

Key words: ISSR, genetic variation, primers, cluster analysis, biodiesel.