High-resolution DNA fingerprinting of Indian rice (Oryza sativa L) varieties by amplified fragment length polymorphism

To assess diversification of indica rice, fingerprinting of 42 Indian rice varieties (Oryza sativa L) and one accession of O. brachyantha Chev. et Roe hr. was taken up using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP). Six p rimer combinations of PstI and MseI were used for this purpose. On denaturi ng polyacrylamide sequencing gel, on average 41 scorable AFLP bands were ob tained of which 81% were polymorphic. Each variety revealed a distinct fing erprint. Data were scored on the basis of presence and absence of bands and cluster analysis was performed using Dice similarity coefficients. The res ultant dendrogram showed four major clusters and traits. Some varieties esp ecially landraces revealed more polymorphism and unique loci. Such study wi ll be a valuable tool for proper choice of parents in mapping populations o r breeding programs to produce heterotic several inexplicable minor cluster s. Some varieties were grouped according to parentages of the cross while s ome were grouped according to physiological combinations apart from providi ng a characteristic fingerprint.