DNA Fingerprinting of Putative Mutants of Kolikuttu Banana Variety Agra

Induced mutation coupled with in-vitro propagation technique has been established as a tool to generate mutations in a number of vegetatively propagated crops including banana. The need for alternative crop improvement methods for banana is owing to its sterility and polyploidy nature which make it extremely difficult in applying conventional methods. Susceptibility of Kolikuttu banana (AAB; silk) for the devastating disease; fusarium wilt (Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense (Foc) is the major threat in commercial cultivation. Therefore, in the present study, in-vitro mutagenesis of shoot tips was applied aiming to develop resistant or less susceptible Kolikuttu banana against fusrium wilt. Ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) treated shoot tips were further multiplied and subjected to screening using different techniques under in-vitro, protected house and sick plot conditions. Samples from the survived plants after each screening were collected and molecular characterization was performed with 21 RAPD primers to identify the variations. Gels scored with ‘quantity one’ software and analyzed using POPGENE illustrated that all the primers used in the analysis showed varying degrees of polymorphism ranging from 57.14 to 100%. The dendrogram generated using Nei’s genetic distance and UPGMA algorithm showed that the survived plant in sick plot was different from the untreated control plant with 0.689 genetic distance. Genotypic stability of identified mutated plants was studied using selected polymorphic primers in the consecutive generation and it was observed 100% similarity which revealed that the selected mutants are stable.