Genetic Diversity studies of some ethnobotanical plants belonging to Family Rubiaceae, along the western ghats of India

Abstract Genetic diversity helps in long term viability of the plant population by helping them combat stresses and preserving genotypes that are beneficial to the mankind. Geographical factors is one of the main determinant of genetic diversity in plants, as being sessile, they adapt to environmental changes quickly. In this study, ethnobotanical plants, Meyna spinosa Roxb. ex. Link from Nasik, Catunaregam spinosa (Thunb.) Triveng from Sattari and Ixora chinensis Lam from Karwar and all their urban counter- parts from Mumbai were subjected to genetic diversity studies by determining the genetic variation, using RAPD and DNA barcoding. RAPD was performed using five random primers; DNA barcoding was performed using matK and rbcL primers. The analysis culminated into two sets of phylogenetic trees. RAPD generated a phylogenetic tree which revealed that Catunaregam spinosa (Thunb.) Triveng from Goa and Mumbai diverged at the ancestral node; DNA barcoding using matK and rbcL primers resulted in 6 matK and 6 rbcL sequences, which were submitted to NCBI and further it generated a phylogenetic tree which revealed that Meyna spinosa Roxb. ex Link from Nasik and Mumbai diverged at ancestral node. Nei’s gene diversity was found to be 0.4096 ± 0.09, Shannon’s diversity index was found to be 0.5943 ± 0.11, percentage of polymorphic loci was found to be 98.67%. We could conclude that genetic diversity could be observed in the same plants from different locations across Western Ghats. Environmental factors such as weather, soil composition and biotic factors could be affecting the genetic make-up of the plants.