Volume 4 • Issue 1 • 1000133 Forest Res ISSN: 2168-9776 FOR, an open access journal Open Access Research Article Tiwari and Bakshi, Forest Res 2015, 4:1 DOI: 10.4172/2168-9776.1000133 Isozymatic Characterization of Accessions of Arundinaria falcata (Nees) Chandrakant Tiwari* and Meena Bakshi Plant Physiology Discipline, Botany Division, Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, India *Corresponding authors: Chandrakant Tiwari, Plant Physiology Discipline, Botany Division, Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, India, Tel: +91 135-2752673; E-mail: tiwari.chandrakant08@gmail.com Weimin Xi, Department of Biological and Health Sciences,Texas A&M University, Tel: 1-361-593-2758; E-mail: weimin.xi@tamuk.edu Received June 03, 2014; Accepted November 12, 2014; Published November 20, 2014 Citation: Tiwari C, Bakshi M (2015) Isozymatic Characterization of Accessions of Arundinaria falcata (Nees). Forest Res 4: 133. doi:10.4172/2168-9776.1000133 Copyright: © 2015 Tiwari C, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Abstract Bamboos are arborescent grasses belonging to the family Poaceae. To study the genetics of bamboo specially, one has to face enormous diffculties such as rare fowering and we cannot make hybridizations as easily as like other plant taxa. Unlike other tropical bamboos, studies on hill bamboos are scarce. Arundinaria falcata, an important hill bamboo, acts as soil stabilizer in hilly terrain. This study assessed the genetic diversity of 10 accessions of A. falcata collected from different localities of Garhwal Himalayas (India) and established at Hill bamboo Germplasm at Khirsu (India), using isozyme marker with four enzyme system (peroxidase, esterase, malate dehydrogenase and malic enzyme). Isozymatic analyses were performed with polyacrylamide gels (one system), bands were scored as binary data. Cluster analyses were conducted, using Jaccard´s similarity coeffcient and UPGMA method. Very high degree of similarity was reported i.e. 63- 94% among different accessions. Dendrogram revealed two major clusters with three (A8- A10) and seven (A1-A7) accessions respectively. The results obtained inferred low genetic diversity in the species and urgent need of the in situ conservation of the natural genetic resources of the A. falcata species. Keywords: Genetic diversity; dendrogram; Polyacrylamide; Jaccard’s coefcient Introduction Genetic conservation programmes are directed towards the long- term preservation of genetic resources either in situ or ex situ so that the potential for continuing evolution or improvement could be sustained. In situ conservation includes the organization and/or servicing of natural supplies where species are permitted to stay in maximum environments with the lowest of management. On the other hand, ex situ conservation includes the use of botanic landscapes, feld farms, seeds shops and gene fnancial banks and germplasm. Te characterization of germplasm is required to maintain identity and purity for proper conservation and management. Various breeding strategies of plants are based on the knowledge of germplasm. Germplasm characterization is thus an important link between the conservation and utilization of plant genetic resources for improvement. Arundinaria falcata vs. Gol Ringal, is socio- economically and ecologically, an important member of hill bamboo, present in Uttarakhand Garhwal Himalayas (India). Like other bamboo species, Ringal (hill bamboo) also has erratic and long fowering cycles. Arundinaria falcata fowers irregularly at times, gregarious over large areas, while few culms may be found in fowers almost every year. Afer seeding the clumps died [1]. Due to over usage of genetic resources and heavy extraction of the material from natural forests, the species are depleting at an alarming rate, gregarious fowering in turn intensifying the depletion of Ringal resources since fowering result into death of entire clumps following seeding. If a single regeneration event coincides with unsuitable conditions, the entire population might lose its chance to reproduce. Heavy forest degradation and agricultural encroachment, forest fres, human impact, heavy grazing pressures, etc. narrows the genetic base and eventually degradation of the gene pool of these species. Isozymes are commonly used as biochemical markers as detectably diferent enzymes, which catalyze the same reaction [2]. Enzymatic analyses are added tools for detecting diversity [3]. Te relationship between observed phenotypes and unobserved genotypes is simpler and better understood for electrophoretic evidence. Allozymes are the biochemical consequence of the substitution, deletion, or addition of amino acids in the polypeptides that comprise the enzymes and they can be distinguished if these changes afect their electrophoretic migration [4]. Isozyme electrophoresis is used to describe population structure, breeding structure and gene fow; to know species boundaries, and to document adaptive diferences in allozymes; and to investigate phylogenetic relationships, rates of evolution, origin of polyploid plants and ploidy levels [5]. Te present work was therefore, undertaken to assess variability among accessions of A. falcata growing in a Germplasm at Khirsu (Pauri) through morphological and genetic tools with the objective i.e. to study the genetic polymorphism in four hill bamboo species on the basis of morphological traits. Materials and Methods Sample collection Te young leaves of selected accessions were collected from Ringal Germplasm, Khirsu, tagged properly in polybags and stored in ice bucket till they were brought to Plant Physiology Laboratory (FRI, Dehradun). Te leaves were stored at -20°C in freezer (vest frost DFS 345) till use. Extraction of enzymes Two grams of young leaves were macerated to powder with Forest Research Open Access F o r e s t R e s e a r c h : O p e n A c c e s s ISSN: 2168-9776