Molecular Characterization of Talinum triangulare (Jacq.)Wild Germplasm Using DNA Barcoding Method

Abstract

Talinum triangulare (Jacq.) Willd is extensively cultivated vegetable in the agro-ecological zone of the tropical rainforest. It grows to the height of about 10-100 cm tall, bearing small pink flowers, some with white to light purple flowers and with fleshy light green to forest green leaves with swollen roots. It is one of the commonly preferred leafy vegetables in southern Nigeria and Cameroon, where it is used in thickening of soup and as additive in increasing the bulk of stews. It is now attracting considerable interest worldwide as medicinal plant and spice. Previously, we have carried out the morphological characterization of this plant germplasm, where we reported paucity of information on the genetics and molecular characteristics of the plant. This present study aimed at carrying out molecular characterization of different land races of Talinum triangulare germplasm with a view to describing the genetic information / traits of the available land races. The different land races of Talinum triangulare were collected from different part of Nigeria including Uyo, AkwaIbom State bordering Cameroon republic. The research work was carried out at International Institute of Tropical Agriculture Laboratory, IITA, Ibadan, Nigeria. High quality total DNA was isolated from the different Talinumsamples, quantified and cross examined for purity. The genomic DNA samples were treated to PCR amplification using different primers (ribulosebisphosphatecarboxylase rbcL, trnH-psbA intergenic spacer trn H-psbA, maturase K matK, nuclear internal transcribed spacer ITS) and DNAbarcoding technique. Gel electrophoresis was performed and the fragment of the intact DNAi.e. the amplicons was gel eluted, subjected to sequencing and the Basic local alignment search tool BLAST were carry out to verify the sequence homology. Nevertheless, no difference was detected among the Talinum samples, signifying that the land races were genotypically identical and that the phenotypical differences observed were invariably due to environments.