Evaluation of genetic diversity in drought tolerant and sensitive varieties of wheat using ISSR markers

Abstract

Drought stress is one of the major constraints that greatly limit the productivity of wheat worldwide. Deciphering the molecular basis of drought tolerance can help in combating drought stress. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to determine genetic diversity among six drought tolerant and six drought sensitive varieties of wheat. Out of 15 ISSR primers used, 14 primers gave reproducible banding pattern. These 14 primers generated 191 amplified products out of which 93 were polymorphic. Overall size of PCR amplified products ranged between 400 bp and 4000 bp. Based on similarity matrix data, the value of similarity coefficient ranged from 0.70 to 0.94. Cluster analysis discriminated the wheat varieties into two major clusters, one consisted of drought tolerant varieties and the other had all drought sensitive varieties. The present study showed that ISSR markers provide a valuable tool to study genetic variability in wheat varieties.