RAPD genotyping of banana cultivars from Epagri germplasm bank

Abstract

- Banana (Musa spp) is one of the most important fruits worldwide, and although there is a large number of cultivars,
only a few present desirable agronomic characteristics. In order to facilitate advancements in plant breeding, there is a need for
understanding the genomic structure and the genetic relationships among the accesses in germplasm banks. In this work, the
use of RAPD in the study of the genetic variability of 15 cultivars of banana from a wide genomic background was validated. A
total of 78 primers were used, which generated 855 polymorphic bands. Data on presence/absence of polymorphic bands were
subjected to cluster analysis. The results showed that RAPD markers were efficient in revealing the genetic diversity among the
cultivars, as well as in separating the A and B genomic groups and the cultivars accordingly to their subgroups.