GENETIC DIVERSITY AND ISSR INITIATORS SELECTION IN A NATURAL POPULATION OF MANGABA (Hancornia speciosa Gomes) (APOCYNACEAE)

The knowledge of genetic diversity of native species has great value when it aims at the improvement and conservation of natural populations. In that direction, the objective of this study is to select ISSR primers (inter simple sequence repeat) to Hancornia speciosa (Apocynaceae), as to quantify the genetic variability of a natural population. It was sampled 15 individuals of a population located in Natal/RN. Stem samples were collected for subsequent DNA extraction. For the selection, 19 IRSS primers were tested, six of them were effective, presenting clearer and numerous loci (UBC 808, UBC 810, UBC 826, UBC 827, UBC 841, UBC 842) totaling 63 loci. Of which, only 30 (47.62%) presented polymorphism. The value of PIC (polymorphic information content) for the selected primers averaged 0.37, ranging from 0.26 to 0.44. Genetic diversity was considered low in the population, with the number of observed alleles (na = 1.48), number of effective alleles (ne = 1.32), diversity index of Nei (He = 0.18) and Shannon index (I = 0.26). The allelic diversity patterns found indicates the occurrence of a recent population bottleneck. The use of ISSR markers for Hancornia speciosa is effective as measuring the genetic diversity of individuals, working as a support for strategies and plans that aim the conservation and maintenance of the species.