Application of Genetic Markers for Plant Genetic Diversity Study

Abstract

This paper is an overview of the major genetic markers, used in assessing plant genetic diversity studies. Detection and analysis of genetic variation by genetic markers can help us to understand the molecular basis of various biological phenomena in plants. Various genetic markers are available for the genetic diversity study of plants. Phenotypic and biochemical markers tend to have the disadvantages of a low degree of polymorphism, relatively few loci and environmentally variable expression. DNA-based methods are widely used. Some of the common methods based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) are amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP), in which restriction enzymes and non-random primers are used, and simple sequence repeats (SSRs), in which primers based on known sequences are employed. In recent years random amplified polymorphic DNAs (RAPDs), in which random primers are used, have been employed for cultivar identification of many crops. The review details account of the application of different genetic markers for plant genetic diversity study.

Keywords: Genetic diversity, Morphological markers, Molecular markers, Biochemical markers