Molecular identification of Aquilaria spp. by using inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR)

Aquilaria species are very important economic plant for production of resin locally known as gaharu in Malaysia. There are five species that can be found in Malaysia and the most important Aquilaria species for gaharu production is A. malaccensis. Molecular markers for Aquilaria species are still insufficient and require more efficient, robust and reproducible molecular marker. Inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers are highly polymorphic and have high reproducibility which will be useful in areas of genetic diversity, phylogenetic studies, gene tagging, genome mapping and evolutionary biology in a wide range of crop species. Five selected ISSR primers were used to identify four Aquilaria species commonly found in Malaysia namely A. malaccensis, A. sub-integra, A. crassna and A. hirta. All the primers showed sufficient polymorphism to distinguish between the four species. Hence, the markers derived from ISSR can be used for molecular identification of Aquilaria spp. in ensuring homogenous species for plantation which may improve the quality of resin derived from known and certified materials.