Assessment of Genomic Integrity of Vitex negundo L., An Important Indian Medicinal Plant, Using RAPD Markers

Vitex negundo is an Indian medicinal plant containing steroids, flavonoids, lignans and terpenoids that can be used as a precursor for commercial production. An efficient marker system such as Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) was used to assess the genetic integrity of V. negundo. The straightforward method RAPD can be used to evaluate genomic integrity because it uses a small amount of DNA for PCR amplification. Six out of thirteen RAPD primers generated 150 distinct bands, of which 31 were polymorphic, with an average of 5.16 polymorphic bands per primer. A maximum of up to 32 fragments were amplified, and an average of 25 per primer, and the amplicons varied in size between 100 and 2000bp. The percentage of polymorphism ranges from 12.9 to 22.5, with an average of 16.6. The PIC values ranged from 0.11 to 0.63 for RAPD primers. The study pointed out that RAPD markers evaluate the genetic fidelity in Vitex negundo. The UPGMA cluster analysis grouped all in vitro raised plantlets treated with different growth regulators such as BAP, DPU, TDZ, and mT. The principal component analysis also substantiates this clustering pattern. Thus, the phylogenetic relationship and a high genetic variation revealed in the present study could provide baseline data for the conservation and improvement of this plant in future. Also, the molecular marker identified in this study will be helpful in the authentication of this species to prevent adulteration in herbal medicine.