Assessment of Genetic Diversity in Pseudarthria viscida (L.) Wight & Arnott Using SSR Markers: Implications for Conservation and Breeding

Pseudarthria viscida (L.) Wight & Arnott is an important, high-volume, traded, threatened medicinal plant native to South and Southeast Asia. Simple Sequence Repeats (SSR) markers were used to determine the genetic relatedness and diversity of 20 accessions of P. viscida collected from different parts of Kerala. Ten primer pairs used were found to be highly polymorphic, showing 100 percentage polymorphism and an average Polymorphic Information Content (PIC) of 0.986, indicating high genetic variation among the accessions. A total of 126 alleles with an average of 12.6 alleles per locus were detected. The cluster analysis based on Jaccard's similarity coefficient using an unweighted pair group method using arithmetic averages grouped the accessions into 4 clusters. The average genetic similarity coefficient of 0.09 indicates relatively high genetic diversity among the accessions. Principal Coordinates Analysis (PCoA) showed the presence of genetic diversity. The three principal coordinates explained 29.55% of the total variation. P. viscida populations have become vulnerable in their natural habitat, and immediate conservation measures are required. SSR markers could be used in future research on the genetic diversity of P. viscida.