Molecular Characterization of Orchid Variants Spathoglottis plicata Blume Based on RAPD Analysis

Abstract

The development of S. plicata orchid variants is important to increase their genetic diversity. This study aims to determine the genetic diversity of S. plicata orchid variants based on RAPD analysis. The research sample was 15 plant variants consisting of wild type and mutant orchid variants. Molecular characterization was used to identify the genetic diversity of orchid variants based on the PCR-RAPD using eight universal primers from the screening results. The DNA amplicon electropherogram from RAPD results was converted to binary data and analyzed with GenAlex 6.1 to obtain the genetic distance, scatter diagram, and the percentage of DNA polymorphism. The data were also analyzed using NTSYS ver.2.2 to obtain a dendrogram cluster using the Unweighted Pair-Group Method using Arithmetic Average (UPGMA). The results showed that DNA polymorphism was found in the wild-type and mutant orchid variants. The percentage of DNA polymorphism of mutant orchid groups was greater than that of wild type orchids. The results of the Principal Coordinate Analysis based on the genetic distance showed that the S. plicata mutant orchid variant was in a different quadrant from the wild type group. Based on the dendrogram cluster, the mutant orchid variants were located away from the wild orchid, which confirmed that the mutant orchid variants have undergone genetic changes.