Cross-species SSR Marker Transferability and Genetic Diversity Assessment in Ashwagandha
Vedant J. Prajapati
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, C. P. College of Agriculture, Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, Sardarkrushinagar 385 506, Gujarat, India.
Harshvardhan N. Zala *
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, C. P. College of Agriculture, Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, Sardarkrushinagar 385 506, Gujarat, India.
Hardiksinh R. Chavda
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, C. P. College of Agriculture, Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, Sardarkrushinagar 385 506, Gujarat, India and Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Anand Agricultural University, Anand 388 110, Gujarat, India.
Pranay C. Patel
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, C. P. College of Agriculture, Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, Sardarkrushinagar 385 506, Gujarat, India and Main Vegetable Research Station, Anand Agricultural University, Anand 388 110, Gujarat, India.
Pranjal Patil
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, C. P. College of Agriculture, Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, Sardarkrushinagar 385 506, Gujarat, India.
Rajitha Nair
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, C. P. College of Agriculture, Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, Sardarkrushinagar 385 506, Gujarat, India.
Ketan N. Prajapati
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, C. P. College of Agriculture, Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, Sardarkrushinagar 385 506, Gujarat, India.
Nishit V. Soni
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, C. P. College of Agriculture, Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, Sardarkrushinagar 385 506, Gujarat, India and Department of Basic Science, College of Horticulture, Anand Agricultural University, Anand 388 110, Gujarat, India.
Satyanarayan D. Solanki
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, C. P. College of Agriculture, Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, Sardarkrushinagar 385 506, Gujarat, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera L. Dunal), also known as “Indian Winter Cherry” or “Indian Ginseng,” is an important medicinal plant of the Solanaceae family. The present study evaluated genetic diversity among 24 W. somnifera genotypes using simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Of the 79 primer pairs screened, 20 successfully amplified target regions, and 15 displayed polymorphisms with amplicon sizes ranging from 100 to 952 bp. Genetic diversity parameters including polymorphic information content (PIC), expected heterozygosity, effective multiplex ratio, mean heterozygosity, marker index, discriminating power, and resolving power averaged 0.33, 0.38, 1.07, 0.01, 0.01, 0.82, and 1.12, respectively. Cluster analysis grouped all genotypes into five major clusters with similarity coefficients between 0.43 and 1.00. Notably, primers SSR22, WS_SSR08, SSR20, CaES5301, WS_SSR06, and T-44 showed higher diversity indices and resolving ability. The observed polymorphism and cross-transferability of SSRs highlight their efficiency for genetic relationship studies and provide valuable resources for W. somnifera improvement and breeding programs.
Keywords: Ashwagandha, cross-genera transferability, expressed sequence tags, SSR, Withania somnifera