Somaclonal variation analysis in micropropagated plants of Musa acuminata cultivar Grande Naine using RAPD marker

Banana plants were regenerated using tissue culture of top buds from Cavendish plants, cultivar Grande Naine, maintained under ten successive cultivations in different culture media. The genomic DNA was extracted
from the original matrix plant rhizoms, also from the dwarf mutant ones, variegated plants and from the plants originated from the five and ten successive in vitro cultivations. The Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis was carried out using 20 primers, having two of them (10%) shown polymorphism among the dwarf and variegated plants in relation to the normal plants. The OPJ-04 primer has amplified two fragments of approximately 1.5 and 2.0kb present in the normal plants, but absent in the dwarf ones. The OPH-09 primer, however, presented
an amplification of approximately 1.7kb fragment, present in both dwarf and in the variegated plants, but absent in the normal ones. This study shows that using the RAPD molecular marker makes it is possible to detect induced somaclonal variation through micropropagation in banana plants.