GENETIC DIVERSITY ASSESMENT AND MOLECULAR CHARACTERIZATION OF XANTHOMONAS AXONOPODIS PV. PUNICAE

Abstract

Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) is a preferred nutritional fruit in tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world which belongs to family Lyrthaceae, having chromosome number 2n=16. All time outbreak of oily spot disease of pomegranate is caused by Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. punicae (Xap), is the major problem and limiting factor in Maharashtra state comparing alone accounts for loss of 80% out of total cultivated area. Keeping this in view, present study is envisaged towards genetic diversity, isolation, identification and characterization of X. axonopodis pv. punicae strains at molecular level from infected plant samples by using RAPD marker. Among the five primers, primer OPB 20 showed most significant by producing 32.75% polymorphism and would be exploited for further study of races identification and development of species specific SCAR marker.