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1 January 2011 Analysis of Genetic Diversity in Earthworms using DNA Markers
Anshul Sharma, Humira Sonah, Rupesh K. Deshmukh, Navneet K. Gupta, Nagendra K. Singh, Tilak R. Sharma
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Abstract

Earthworms are one of the most important and beneficial macrofauna, and are used extensively in organic farming. Earthworms mediate soil biological regulation systems, and produce biogenic structures. They help to maintain soil structure, water infiltration, and regulate the availability of nutrients assimilated by plants. The objectives of this study were to perform morphological and molecular characterizations of 24 earthworm individuals collected from geographically diverse locations to assess the level of genetic variation. For molecular analysis, the effectiveness of RAPD, ISSR, and Universal rice primers (URPs) markers was investigated to identify polymorphism among 24 isolates of earthworms. A total of 62 molecular markers were used for amplification of genomic DNA of earthworms. Of these, 10 RAPD, 10 ISSR, and 10 URPs markers were used for characterization, which showed 95.7%, 96.7% and 98.3% polymorphism, respectively. The dendrogram, generated from the DNA markers by the unweighted pair group method using arithmetic averages, grouped all the isolates into two main clusters. All Eisenia fetida isolates were clustered in group A, whereas group B included three isolates belonging to Eudrilus eugeniae. Molecular markers allowed a rapid assessment of genetic variation among these closely related isolates of earthworms. These results suggest that molecular markers are a good choice for diversity analysis of earthworm individuals.

© 2011 Zoological Society of Japan
Anshul Sharma, Humira Sonah, Rupesh K. Deshmukh, Navneet K. Gupta, Nagendra K. Singh, and Tilak R. Sharma "Analysis of Genetic Diversity in Earthworms using DNA Markers," Zoological Science 28(1), 25-31, (1 January 2011). https://doi.org/10.2108/zsj.28.25
Received: 21 November 2009; Accepted: 1 July 2010; Published: 1 January 2011
KEYWORDS
earthworms
Eisenia fetida
Eudrilus eugeniae
ISSR
RAPD
URP
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