Molecular discrimination and genetic relationships between some cultivars of Cucurbita pepo ssp. pepo using random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis

Abstract

Cucurbita pepo ssp. pepo; zucchini group is a widely grown and economically important group belonging to genus Cucurbita, and being one of the easiest groups to cultivate in temperate climate with overwhelming production. Since, RAPD analysis provides a fast and reliable method for molecular characterization and investigation of the intraspecific genetic relationships; it had been used in this study to discriminate and clarify the genetic diversity between seven cultivars of C. pepo ssp. pepo originated worldwide. Seven out of 20 decamer arbitrary primers showed polymorphism in the RAPD profile. The polymorphism was investigated by 87 consistent amplification products. Some of those fragments were uniquely amplified in single cultivar. Thus, they can be used as molecular markers for cultivar identification. The results of Jaccard similarity and the phenogram ascertained the wide genetic base of the Egyptian landrace El-Escandrani with the lowest loading component of 0.400. Therefore, it could be recommended as a reservoir of alleles useful for breeding programs in parental crosses. The multivariate analysis using the principle component analysis separated all the cultivars on the first component indicating the high correlation between them. The strongest correlation was confirmed between the two MHTSQ hybrids with Mansoura cultivar from Italy, with a loading component of 0.85.

Keywords: Genetic diversity, Cucurbita pepo, cluster analysis, random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD)

African Journal of Biotechnology, Vol. 13(11), 1202-1209