~ 3073 ~ International Journal of Chemical Studies 2018; 6(2): 3073-3076 P-ISSN: 2349–8528 E-ISSN: 2321–4902 IJCS 2018; 6(2): 3073-3076 © 2018 IJCS Received: 16-01-2018 Accepted: 17-02-2018 Renu Rana Department of Vegetable Science, G.B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar, U S Nagar, Uttarakhand, India Dhirendra Singh Professor, Department of Vegetable Science, G.B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar, U S Nagar, Uttarakhand, India Naveen Singh Rawat Department of Seed Science & Technology, G.B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar, U S Nagar, Uttarakhand, India JP Singh Professor, Department of Vegetable Science, G.B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar, U S Nagar, Uttarakhand, India Ashutosh Barthwal Department of Vegetable Science, G.B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar, U S Nagar, Uttarakhand, India Correspondence Renu Rana Department of Vegetable Science, G.B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar, U S Nagar, Uttarakhand, India Molecular markers play key role to evaluate and distinguish different cultivars of potato ( Solanum tuberosum L.) on the basis of genetic diversity Renu Rana, Dhirendra Singh, Naveen Singh Rawat, JP Singh and Ashutosh Barthwal Abstract Twenty Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers were used for assessing the genetic diversity and molecular characterization of 41 potatoes genotypes/cultivars. Out of 20 RAPD primers only 9 were amplified and produced polymorphic bands. Total 81 scorable fragment were recorded whereas, 72 polymorphic and only were 9 monomorphic. Similarities among the genotypes/varieties were ranged from 69 to 94 percent. Primers OPA-02, OPA-11 and OPA-18 produced 100 percent polymorphic bands. Keywords: Solanum tuberosum L., RAPD, genetic diversity, primers Introduction Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.), is an important edible tuber crop belonging to family Solanaceae. It is believed that the cultivated potato (Solanum tuberosum ssp. tuberosum) originated from another tetraploid subspecies, S. tuberosum ssp. andigena, which probably evolved from its wild diploid ancestors in the basin of Lake ‘Titicaca’ in Peru – Bolivian borders (Cadmen, 1942) [2] . The cultivated potato has narrow genetic base due to limited introduction of germplasm from their natural range in South America (Rauf et al., 2010) [11] . Most of the potato cultivars are autotetraploid (2n=4x=48), highly heterozygous and out breeding species which suffer from inbreeding depression. An increase in its heterozygosity results in producing more hybrid vigour (Tarn and Tai, 1977) [15] . Heterosis in potato perpetuates because of its vegetative propagated nature. Traditionally, morphological characterization is the first step in description and classification of genetic resources (Smith and Smith, 1989) [13] and the traits such as leaf type, tuber shape, skin colour and flower colour etc. have been used to identify potato genotypes (Chimote et al., 2007) [4] . However, these traits can be influenced by many factors like environment, leading to lack of reliability and reproducibility in this method. Therefore, characterization of genotypes using molecular markers has become important tools in studies of genetic diversity (Rocha et al., 2010) [12] , due to the high resolution and reliability in the identification of cultivars. It is greatly used in breeding programmes for improving the traits because such techniques directly reveal genetic variability through DNA analysis (Staub and Serquen, 1996) [14] and therefore their detection is not influenced by environmental effects. It also helps in cultivar protection, mainly in seed tuber of potato, as well as ensures the trademark and intellectual property rights (Coombs et al., 2004) [5] . Mostly the RFLP, RAPD, AFLP, ISSR and SSR markers are suitable for assessing the genetic diversity of genotypes (McGregor et al., 2000) [10] as their common origin is point mutation or chromosome rearrangements, which accumulates during the evolution of the species without any negative influence in their survival and reproduction. RAPD markers have the advantage of detecting polymorphism in a simple way simply and quickly, but it lacks reproducibility (Chakrabarti et al., 2001) [3] , while SSR (simple sequence repeat) markers or microsatellites provide high reproducibility and genetic information (Braun and Wenzel, 2005) [1] . The choice of the most suitable marker to be used depends on the labor required for their detection, possibility of revealing single or multiple loci, dominant or co-dominant nature and costs. The use of molecular markers in potato breeding offers new opportunities for the selection of genotypes and today many markers linked to useful traits have been found.