Genetic diversity analysis revealed the hot spot of Acmella paniculata(Wall ex DC.) R. K. Jansen existing in natural populations of Gujarat.

Genetic diversity analysis contributes to the conservation, protection and utilization of genetic resources toward efficient management of germplasm. In this investigation, Inter Simple Sequence Repeats (ISSR) markers were used to analyze the genetic diversity of 32 genotypes of Acmella paniculata [(Wall. ex DC.) R. K. Jansen] collected from 12 different states of Gujarat, India. There were 113 loci amplified by 15 different ISSR markers with an average of 7.53 loci per primer. From the total 113 amplicons; 81 were polymorphic, 43 were monomorphic and 9 were found to be unique showing an average of 60.18% polymorphism. The primer (CT)₈T produced a high value (0.65) of polymorphic information content; whereas, primer (TC)₈RA produced a low value (0.21). The resolving power value of the primers ranged from 5.25 in primer (TC)₈RA to 23.19 in primer (AC)₈YT with an average of 12.17. The Jaccard's similarity coefficients value ranged from 0.48 to 0.94. The highest percentage of similarity (94%) was found between accessions AP6 and AP16 which were collected from Panchmahal and Narmada respectively, as they are geographically closely located. Whereas, accessions AP2 from Banaskantha and AP7 from Panchmahal were most distantly related with the similarity value of 48%, as expected to their collection locations. The study revealed that there is no correlation between geographical distance and genetic diversity among the populations studied. The resultant data generated from ISSR molecular marker-based genetic diversity analysis of A. paniculata in Gujarat can provide a reference for the conservation and efficient management of the important Indian genetic resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]