Genetic diversity assessment of Aconitum chasmanthum Stapf ex Holmes, a critically endangered and endemic medicinal plant of Kashmir Himalaya, using inter simple sequence repeat markers

Aconitum chasmanthum is a critically endangered and endemic medicinal plant of Kashmir Himalaya, with exceptional medicinal potential. A. chasmanthum is facing greater threat of extinction from the region due to several biotic and abiotic factors. No preservation programs have been attempted yet to conserve this potential resource. So, we accessed the genetic diversity of eleven natural populations of A. chasmanthum using Inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSR) molecular markers. Ten ISSR primers were used to characterize the genetic profiles of collected accessions. The DNA amplification produced 79 loci and the percentage of polymorphic bands was 66.67% to 88.89% with a mean of 78.21%. The average observed number of alleles (Na = 1.75), the effective number of alleles (Ne = 1.48), Shannon’s information index (I = 0.4), diversity (h = 0.28), and unbiased diversity (uh = 0.29) indicated a high level of genetic diversity in the collected A. chasmanthum accessions. The average polymorphism information content (0.31), marker index (5.87), effective multiplex ratio (3.67), heterozygosity index (0.81), and discriminating power (0.46) indicated that all these markers were polymorphic. Based on molecular data, the collected A. chasmanthum accessions were grouped into 3 clusters and were mostly related to their geographical origin. Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) was also consistent with the dendrogram result. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) identified 24% among and 76% variance within subpopulations, indicating low genetic differentiation (high gene exchange) between the two sub populations. Based on these findings, it will serve as a reference for A. chasmanthum breeding purposes and will help in germplasm identification, rational exploitation, and conservation.