Genetic divergence among African and American cotton ( Gossypium hirsutum L. race latifolium H.) cultivars and inbred lines through random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers.

Abstract

Cotton ( Gossypium spp.) is an important cash crop and the second largest source of textile fiber and edible oil throughout the world. This study was conducted to investigate the genetic divergence through random amplified polymorphism (RAPD) molecular markers among the introduced African and American cultivars and inbred lines of cotton ( Gossypium hirsutum L. raca latifolium H.) in Mozambique. We used 24 RAPD primers that amplified a total of 166 bands, identifying 90.96% of polymorphism. The intra and inter group genetic variability quantification evidenced significant variability of 16.30% between the African and American groups. The highest genetic similarity was observed among the African commercial cotton cultivars, whereas American cultivars and inbred lines were considered the most dissimilar ones. The arithmetic complement of Jaccard, obtained with 151 RAPD molecular markers showed that African cultivars Albar BC853 and STAM 42 were the most similar, while the most dissimilar combinations were TAMCOT Sphinx and ISA 205 followed by TAMCOT Sphinx vs ALBAR BC853 and TAMCOT Sphinx vs REMU 40 combinations. Keywords: Molecular variance analysis, decamer primers, dissimilarity, Gossypium hirsutum , molecular markers.