CHARACTERIZATION OF A NEW BIOTYPE Moringa OF SAUDI ARABIA USING RAPD AND ISSR MARKERS

Moringa peregrina and M. oleifera are the only Moringa species found in Saudi Arabia. Both species are drought resistant and have very high nutritional and medicinal properties. Detection of genetic diversity is of great value for the improvement of nutritional and medicinal value of these plants. The aim of the present study was to characterize a new biotype Moringa observed in Al Bahah Region, Saudi Arabia. We used 11 RAPD and 15 ISSR primers to characterize and compare the new biotype with M. peregrina and M. oleifera . Level of polymorphism generated by each marker was calculated. We also calculate Nei and Li’s coefficient to measure the genetic distance between the studied species. Level of polymorphism generated by RAPD and ISSR was 46% and 57%, respectively. RAPD and ISSR primers revealed that the new biotype shared 55 amplicons (45.08%) with both M. peregrina and M. oleifera , 28 amplicons with M. peregrina (22.95%), 21 amplicons (17.21%) with M. oleifera , and displayed 18 unshared amplicons (14.75%). Based on RAPD data, genetic distance between M. oleifera and M. peregrina was 0.32, whereas genetic distance between the new biotype and M. oleifera and M. peregrina was 0.21 and 0.29, respectively. For ISSR data, genetic distance between M. oleifera and M. peregrina was 0.5, whereas genetic distance between the new biotype and M. oleifera and M. peregrina was 0.36 and 0.34, respectively. Based on these results we suggested that the new biotype is a hybrid crossbred between M. peregrina and M. oleifera.