Genetic differentiation and diversity analysis of medicinal tree Syzygium cumini (Myrtaceae) from ecologically different regions of India.

This study represents the agro-ecological zone wise surveys of molecular variation of important medicinal tree Syzygium cumini Linn. (Jamun) which is native to India. It is used world wide in treatment of diabetes. Despite of its diverse medicinal properties no molecular data is available about the pattern of variation in its natural range. Populations of S. cumini in India are located in different habitats which differ from each other with regard to ecological factors. In this study, random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers were used to detect inter and intra levels of genetic variations of sixteen S. cumini genotypes collected from three major agro-ecological zones of India. A total of 220 amplification products were scored of which 87.50 % were polymorphic. The level of polymorphism ranged from 47.69 % to 74.87 % polymorphic bands per population and was correlated with population size. Different measures of diversity: Shannon's index of phenotypic diversity (I) = 0.451 ± 0.230; Nei's genetic diversity (h) = 0.300 ± 0.172; effective number of alleles per locus (Ne) = 1.51 ± 0.347; total species diversity (Hsp) = 0.315 ± 0.031 and within population diversity (Hpop) = 0.158 ± 0.104 showed high genetic diversity at species level. Coefficient of genetic differentiation (Gst =0.498; Nm = 0.503) revealed significant genetic differentiation among the populations. Most of the genetic variations are contained among the populations. The results of cluster analysis and principal component analysis (PCA) give only little evidence for an ecotypic differentiation of S. cumini populations. Present genetic structure of population suggests ex situ conservation in seed banks in which seeds from at least five populations need to collected and conserved. Secondly, our study provides practical information to herbal drugs manufactures who use Jamun as a raw material.