Genetic Diversity Between and Within Species of Opuntia Spp. Revealed by Issr Molecular Marker

The Opuntia spp. forage palm is a viable solution for animal feed in arid and semi-arid regions due to its easy adaptation to this type of environment, its physiological characteristics and its low production cost. Given its importance, it is essential to learn more about its genetic characteristics. Molecular markers are one of the most widely used techniques. Within this context, the aim of this study was to assess the genetic diversity of 40 genotypes of Opuntia spp. from the Active Germplasm Bank (AGB) of the National Semi-Arid Institute (INSA), using Inter Simple Sequence Repeats (ISSR) molecular markers. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was extracted from the accessions using the DNeasy Plant Mini® Kit (Qiagen). Eleven ISSR oligonucleotide primers were used. This technique amplified 839 fragments, distributed over 91 loci. Nine groups were constructed from the genetic distances of the 40 accessions. It was found that there is high genetic diversity between and within the species evaluated, helping to broaden the genetic base of the segregating populations, suggesting intraspecific crossing between accessions 87 and 117 and interspecific crossing with accessions 1 x 119, 86 x ?(101), 86 x 135, 88 x 135, ?(101) x 135.