Cross Transferability of SSR Markers from Finger Millet, Pearl Millet and Rice to Indian Little Millet and their Genetic Diversity Analysis

Author: Anu Gautam, Keerti Tantwai, Sushma Nema, Niraj Tripathi and Sharad Tiwari

Download PDF

Abstract

Little millet (Panicum sumatrense) is nutrient rich, highly resilient to climate, abiotic and biotic stresses in comparison to other cultivated cereals. Lack of genomic information of little millet severely limits the use molecular markers in the study of genetic variability and crop improvement. Development of molecular markers for genetic diversity analysis of little millet is required for conservation of germplasm ex-situ. This study was conducted to evaluate the genetic diversity of 33 little millet landraces accessions collected from different agro-climatic zones of Madhya Pradesh and few samples from Chhattisgarh state using simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. About 15 SSR markers were selected from reported markers of finger millet, pearl millet and rice. Among 15 SSR markers, 9 markers showed polymorphism. Totally 30 polymorphic alleles were detected with 44.71% percentage of polymorphism. The averages of gene diversity, polymorphic information content (PIC) and major allele frequency were 0.29, 0.26 and 0.78 respectively. The range of genetic distance value of 33 little millet lines was 0.0-0.6. DINKUT20160830-6 landrace was found to be most diverse based on cluster analysis. Findings of this study thus demonstrate the utility of SSR primers of same family crops in assessing genomics relationships in little millet. This study aid in development and use of SSR marker in little millet germplasm conservation and utilization in crop improvement programs effectively.

Keywords

Little millet, SSR markers, landraces, polymorphism, genetic diversity, Panicum sumatrense

Conclusion

The genetic diversity among different landraces of little millet was analyzed by using SSR markers, which are effective and reliable tools for this type of analysis. These findings not only highlight the capacity of the SSR technique but also helps in the selection of diverse little millet landraces for conservation and crop improvement. This study shows the inter-generic transfer of SSR primers within the same family of crops. Genome of little millet is transferable with rice and other millets like finger millet and pearl millet. Diverse parents can be used for the improvement of millet genotypes and rice also because; the study confirms the suitability of gene transfer among rice, finger millet and pearl millet. The SSR markers identified herein can be applied in different hereditary studies together with association mapping in this crop and in related millet crops. Hence, these selected SSR markers can be helpful for molecular breeding in this underutilized millet crop.

References

-

How to cite this article

Anu Gautam, Keerti Tantwai, Sushma Nema, Niraj Tripathi and Sharad Tiwari (2022). Cross Transfer ability of SSR Markers from Finger Millet, Pearl Millet and Rice to Indian Little Millet and their Genetic Diversity Analysis. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 14(4): 1016-1023.