GENETIC DIVERSITY OF Ephedra procera FROM HIGH ALTITUDES OF QUETTA VALLEY, BALOCHISTAN USING RAPD AND ISSR

Ephedra procera Fisch Mey is an important wild medicinal, evergreen dioecious shrub found fragmentally at high altitudes of Balochistan, Pakistan. Published data regarding the E. procera is limited in the area under discussion. Therefore study was initiated to determine genetic diversity of this species from three different altitudes of Quetta valley, Balochistan through genetic polymorphism (by estimating genetic distances). The study was carried out during 2012-2014 using different molecular markers, ten-mer Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and eighteen-merInter-Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR). Out of total sampled plants, nine were selected for this study. Out of 35RAPD and 5 ISSRs, 6 RAPD and 3 ISSRs were able to characterize the studied genotypes. A total of 92 DNA fragments were amplified and 57 (61.95%) were polymorphic with an average of 10.2 amplified per primer. Unweighted pair group method of arithmetic means (UPGMA) method was used for cluster analysis indicating high genetic diversity in investigated population. Distance tree illustrated maximum genetic diversity between A2 and C1. It may be due to the altitudinal gradient, fragmented population and anthropogenic factors. Data analyses provided information to implement conservation strategy for this taxon.