DETECTING GENETIC DIVERSITY IN DIPLOID BANANAS USING PCR AND PRIMERS FROM A HIGHLY REPETITIVE DNA-SEQUENCE

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to detect polymorphisms a mong 29 diploid clones of Musa acuminata Colla. from Papua New Guinea. Primer sequences were derived from a 520 bp highly repetitive DNA seq uence isolated from M. acuminata ssp. malaccensis. Primers, used indiv idually, detected a total of 48 polymorphisms that were scored as unit characters and used to generate a Jaccard's similarity index. Princip al coordinate analysis (PCO) was used to cluster clones and the unweig hted paired-group method of analysis (UPGMA) was used to compute genet ic distance among the materials examined. The abundance of diversity w ithin the PNG diploids examined reflects the extreme genetic variabili ty within the M. acuminata gene pool. PCR, utilizing primers from a hi ghly repetitive sequence, is a rapid means of detecting genetic divers ity in M. acuminata.