Genetic variability of wild passion fruit determined by molecular markers

Passiflora nitida is a wild species widely distributed in Brazilian territory. It is a source of resistance to foliar and soil home diseases. The objective of this work was to evaluate the genetic variability among accessions of R nitida proceeding from different types of Cerrado (Brazilian savannah) vegetation and brazilian states (Goias, Distrito Federal, Tocantins, Mato Grosso and Amazonas) using RAPD molecular markers. The genomic DNA of each origin was extracted and amplified using 12 decamer primers to obtain RAPD molecular markers. These markers were transformed in binary matrix data to estimate genetic distances among accessions and to perform cluster and graphical dispersion analysis. It was obtained 196 markers, of which 63.81% were polymorphic to P. nitida acessions. The genetic distances among accessions of Passiflora species ranged from 0.031 to 0.614 and among P nitida accessions ranged from 0.031 to 0.417. It was observed high genetic variability among P nitida accessions. Lower genetic distances was verified among accessions of the same brazilian state. In the same state, lower genetic distances was found among accessions from similar Cerrado vegetations types. The accession named "Manaus 2" presented greatest genetic distance in comparison with others accessions.