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Volume 8 Journal of Ecosystem & Ecography Biodiversity Congress 2018
July 26-27, 2018
July 26-27, 2018 Melbourne, Australia
7th International Conference on
Biodiversity Conservation and Ecosystem Management
Pattern of genetic variation in endangered medicinal Himalayan herb, Picrorhiza kurroa, assessed
using DNA markers, implication for genetic enhancement and ex situ conservation
Avinash Kumar1, Amita Kumari1, Vijay Rani Rajpal2 and S N Raina3
1Vinoba Bhave University, India
2University of Delhi, India
3Amity University, India
Picrorhiza kurroa (family Scrophulariaceae) is a well-known medicinal herb in the Ayurvedic system of medicine used for
centuries to treat disorders of the liver and upper respiratory tract, jaundice, fever, dyspepsia, chronic diarrhea and scorpion
sting. Commonly known as kutki, it grows in moist areas of Himalayan regions of India at elevations of 3000-5000 m. Due to
intensive harvesting from its natural habitat, it is now classified as an endangered species. In order to meet the ever increasing
demand of the species, it is essential to genetically improve the species for not only meeting obvious goals for conservation and
improvement but it is important also to bring it to the status where it can be cultivated in larger areas other than the condition where
it is at presently growing in wild. To obtain the desired objectives as above, the first requisite beyond doubt is to compartmentalize
the nature, extent and form of variations at DNA sequence level of the germplasm and levels of gene flow between populations, of
this over exploited plant species. In the present study, we employed RAPD, ISSR and AFLP markers to determine the nature and
extent of genetic diversity of P. kurroa germplasm resources of representative 91 genotypes belonging to 10 populations, collected
from different parts of the Himalayas. The RAPD, ISSR and AFLP fingerprints with 22 and 15 primers and 7 primer combinations,
respectively, revealed 83.5%, 80.6% and 72.1% polymorphism among 140, 88 and 327 genetic loci amplified from the 91 genotypes,
respectively. The AMOVA analysis indicated more variation existed in differences in genotypes within population than between
population within a region and between regions, respectively. The results obtained are very interesting and informative with regard
to not only genetic diversity diagnostics but also from the point of view of utilization for its genetic enhancement as above.
Biography
Avinash Kumar is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Botany, Vinoba Bhave University, Jharkhand, India. During his PhD, he has worked extensively on
the assessment of genetic diversity of endangered medicinal plant species growing in the extremes of Himalayan regions of India, as well as the genetic diversity
study of few endemic tree species.
Avinash Kumar et al, J Ecosyst Ecogr 2018, Volume 8
DOI: 10.4172/2157-7625-C4-041