Genetic variability and Phylogenetic relationship among some Bamboo species of North-East India by AFLP analysis

The commercial importance of bamboo calls for precise documentation of these plants using molecular parameters since flowering based classical taxonomic grouping of bamboo plants within this group have often been questioned. In the present report, AFLP markers has been used with an aim to providing better understanding of taxonomic grouping of nine bamboo species of Manipur state of North Eastern India that is home to a large population with wide diversity of bamboo plants. The experimental material consisted mainly species of Bambusa and Dendrocalamus genus for which reports on even DNA fingerprinting studies (albeit few) appear confusing. Two other genus viz. Mellocanna and Thyrostachys were also included in the study. AFLP analysis using six pair primer combinations on nine species belonging to four genera of bamboo, generated total 1620 alleles among which 1229 alleles were polymorphic while 391 alleles were monoporphic. The average similarity matrix was used to generate a tree for cluster analysis using software NTSys v 2.1. All the species under Bambusa genus form a distinct cluster except Bambusa balcooa which formed a separate cluster with Thyrostachys siamensis. All species under Dendrocalamus genus have clustered together sharing a common origin with Bambusa cluster. Another species viz. Melocanna baccifera also originated from this common root but exhibited distinct existence suggesting independent evolution.

Author(s): Subhabrata Ghosh, Bharat Somkuwar, Swati Sen Mandi* and Narayan. C. Talukdar

Abstract | PDF

Share This Article