Authentication of the medicinal plant Senna angustifolia by RAPD profiling

In this study ‘‘RAPD’’ molecular marker was employed for the identification of Senna angustifolia, Senna acutifolia, Senna tora and Senna sophera. Total 32 decamer primers were screened in amplification with genomic DNA extracted from all species, of which 6 primers yielded species-specific reproducible bands. Out of 42 loci detected, the polymorphic, monomorphic and unique loci were 24, 2 and 16, respectively. Based on dendrogram and similarity matrix, 4 species were differentiated from each other and showed more divergence. Thus, this technique may prove and to contribute the identification of these species of Senna having similar morphology sold in the local markets.