Abstract
The present investigation was undertaken with an aim to check the ability of cross species amplification of microsatellite markers isolated from Jatropha curcas-a renewable source of biodiesel to deduce the generic relationship with its six sister taxa (J. glandulifera, J. gossypifolia, J. integerrima, J. multifida, J. podagrica, and J. tanjorensis). Out of the 49 markers checked 31 markers showed cross species amplification in all the species studied. JCDS-30, JCDS-69, JCDS-26, JCMS-13 and JCMS-21 amplified in J. curcas. However, these markers did not show any cross species amplification. Overall percentage of polymorphism (PP) among the species studied was 38% and the mean genetic similarity (GS) was found to be 0.86. The highest PP (24) and least GS (0.76) was found between J. curcas/J. podagrica and J. curcas/J. multifida and least PP (4.44) and highest GS (0.96) was found between J. integerrima/J. tanjorensis. Dendrogram analysis showed good congruence to RAPD and AFLP than nrDNA ITS data reported earlier. The characterized microsatellites will pave way for intraspecies molecular characterization which can be further utilized in species differentiation, molecular identification, characterization of interspecific hybrids, exploitation of genetic resource management and genetic improvement of the species through marker assisted breeding for economically important traits.