Assessment of genetic diversity in maize inbred lines using RAPD markers
Daniela Cristina Bruel, Valeria Carpentieri-Pípolo, Claudete de Fátima Ruas, Antonio Carlos Gerage, and Silvia Graciele Hülse de Souza
RAPD molecular markers were used to analyze genetic diversity between 16 corn lines. Twenty-two primers were used resulting in the amplification of 265 fragments, of which 237 (84.44%) were polymorphic. Using the UPGMA method the genetic associations obtained showed 5 distinct heterotic groups. A principal coordinates analysis also showed an association of lines in 5 groups, in agreement with the results observed in the dendrogram. A bootstrap procedure was applied to verify whether the amount of markers used was sufficient to ensure reliability of the results, the procedure showed a coefficient of variation of 8.3%, suggesting that the markers were sufficient to assess genetic diversity between the analyzed lines. The high rate of polymorphism between lines revealed by RAPD markers indicated that the method is efficient to analyze genetic diversity in corn lines and that the genetic divergence can be used to establish consistent heterotic groups between corn lines.