American Journal of Infectious Diseases 5 (2): 148-153, 2009 ISSN 1553-6203 © 2009 Science Publications Corresponding Author: Vimal Sharma, Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Rajasthan College of Agriculture, Udaipur 313001, India 148 Molecular Characterization of Opium Poppy (Papaver somniferum) Germplasm Hari Shanker Acharya and Vimal Sharma Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Rajasthan College of Agriculture, Udaipur India Abstract: Problem statement: The medicinal value of opium poppy (2n = 22, Papaver somniferum L.) is due to presence of more than two dozen alkaloids. The genetic origin and diversity of cultivars used in the breeding collection is not fully known. To evaluate the genetic diversity of the 24 germplasm currently cultivated in the state to provide genetic information about heterogeneity, using RAPD and ISSR markers. Approach: Isolated genomic DNA was subjected to PCR amplification using either random or ISSR markers. The amplified fragments were scored and matrix was prepared. Jaccard similarity coefficients were calculated and dendogram was generated. Results: RAPD with 12 primers gave 46 scorable fragments out of which 32 bands were polymorphic (69.52%) with 2.6 polymorphic band per primer, while in ISSR analysis 9 primer gave good amplification with DNA of 24 opium poppy germplasm. They gave 27 scorable polymorphic with 3.0 bends per primer. Dendrogram constructed revealed that the based on RAPD the germplasm cultivated comprised of one major group A and one minor group B, while two clusters of two germplasm each stands apart, on the basis of ISSR they fall into one major group A and one minor groups B, while one germplasm clusters of UOP-60 stands apart. Based on combined RAPD and ISSR analysis these germplasm were divided into 1 major group A and 3 minor group B, C, D whereas one genotype UOP-6 stood apart. Conclusion: These results showed that the majority of cultivated germplasm fall in one cluster and have low genetic diversity. Key words: RAPD, ISSR, molecular markers INTRODUCTION The opium poppy (2n = 22, Papaver somniferum L.) belonging to the family Papaveraceae, is an annual medicinal herb. The medicinal value of opium poppy is due to presence of numerous alkaloids out of which morphine, codeine, narcotine, thebaine and papaverine, are frequently used as pain killer, sedative, an analgesic, anti-tussive and anti spasmodic in modern medicine. India is leading country in the production of opium poppy and is the world’s largest producer of licit opium. India is the only country authorized by the United Nations single convention on narcotic drugs (1961) to produce gum opium. It is the largest producer of opium gum for the world’s pharmaceutical industry. In 2002 India produced 820 Mt. of opium gum from 18447 ha. of cultivated area. Plant breeders all over the country have developed various high yielding varieties, however most of them are yet to be characterized for their genetic diversity and gene pool. Molecular markers have been proved to be valuable tools in the characterization and evaluation of genetic diversity within and between species and populations. It has been shown that different markers might reveal different classes of variation [1,2] . It is correlated with the genome fraction surveyed by each kind of marker, their distribution throughout the genome and the extent of the DNA target which is analyzed by each specific assay [3] . RAPD markers are commonly used because they are quick and simple to obtain enabling genetic diversity analysis in several types of plant material such as natural populations, population in breeding program and germplasm collections [4] . RAPD markers are superior when simplicity and costs were considered [5] . RAPD has been used in analysis of genetic distance in different plant species [6-8] . ISSRs are the regions which lie within the microsatellite repeats and offer great potential to determine intergenomic diversity compared to other arbitrary primers, since they reveal variation within unique regions of the genome at several loci