Genetic diversity and population structure of Aconitum heterophyllum- an endangered plant from North-western Himalayas using microsatellite markers Kumar Amandeep1,2,*, Tiwari Ankita2, Narendran Pavithra1, Raturi Pankaj Prasad2 1The University of Trans-Disciplinary Health Sciences and Technology, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India 2Dabur Research and Development Centre, Dabur India Limited, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India *Corresponding author e-mail: aman_bt@yahoo.co.in
Online published on 29 June, 2023. Abstract Overexploitation and unsustainable collection of medicinally important roots of Aconitum heterophyllum, has placed the species under endangered category. To access its conservation and population status, genetic diversity and population structure was studied using microsatellite markers. A total of 36 accessions representing 8 populations from Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh states of India were used for the study. The microsatellite markers were characterized by assessing transferability and by using 5’-anchored primers with the targeted repeat motifs. Ten primers were identified by assessing transferability of primers from related Aconitum species. Another 4 primers were characterized with identified repeat motifs along with a 5’-anchor. A total of 55 allele with an average of 40.18% of polymorphic loci were observed using these 14 primers across the studied populations. Results indicated low genetic diversity with Shannon's information index (I) of 0.246 and heterozygosity (uHe) of 0.194 at species level. The analysis of molecular variance indicated higher variation among the populations (92%) and very low variation of 8% within the population. High genetic differentiation was observed (Fst=0.490) with low gene flow (Nm=0.932). Population structure and cluster analysis reported two populations which were dependent upon the distant geographical locations. The study indicated possible decline in the population of the species due to narrow genetic diversity, high genetic differentiation and low gene flow resulting from fragmentation of populations. In-situ conservation strategies are suggested to be developed for improving the gene flow between populations through anthropogenic methods, as the populations are distantly located and isolated. Top Keywords Aconitum heterophyllum, Atees, Conservation, Genetic diversity, Microsatellites, Population structure. Top |