Genetic Variability Based on Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA in Mistletoe Fig (Ficus deltoidea Jack) Collected from Peninsular Malaysia

Ficus deltoidea Jack is an important and popular medicinal plant species found in the Malaysia. Plants are being collected and used based on morphology and authentication to prevent adulteration is not in practice. In this study, twenty-six accessions of F. deltoidea Jack were collected from Kelantan and Terengganu states of Peninsular Malaysia to examine their genetic similarities and differences using randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) technique. Out of 20 arbitrary primers, two primers (D-10 and D-11) were selected which produced reliable DNA polymorphism. D-10 and D-11 primers generated 138 RAPD bands ranging from 250 bp to 3000 bp. Ninety-nine of them were polymorphic loci (72%) and thirty-nine were nonpolymorphic loci (28%). A total of 56 bands with polymorphic loci were amplified with primer D-10 and analyzed by cluster analysis and UPGMA to present a dendrogram depicting the degree of genetic relationship among 26 accessions. Eight RAPD markers were sequenced to determine their identity. RAPD analysis showed the genetic diversity among 26 accessions of F. deltoidea Jack. The RAPD profile and RAPD marker sequences reported in this paper could be used in plant and/or plant material authentication. This study also suggested that RAPD can be a useful technique to study DNA polymorphism in F. deltoidea Jack.