Fluoride (F) Accumulation and Genetic Diversity Studies in F Hyperaccumulator Plant Prosopis juliflora for Selection of the Best Germplasm for Phytoremediation Purpose

Fluoride (F) Accumulation and Genetic Diversity Studies in F Hyperaccumulator Plant Prosopis juliflora for Selection of the Best Germplasm for Phytoremediation Purpose

Research on hyperaccumulation mechanism is increasing, but the genetic basis of fluoride (F) hyperaccumulation remains to be elucidated. The environmental pollution with F is a worldwide problem. Our earlier work demonstrated that Prosopis juliflora is a hyperaccumulator plant for F removal. We undertook the present study to screen the best germplasm of naturally growing plants of this species collected from five different locations of India viz. states of Rajasthan, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh based on F accumulation and ISSR genetic diversity. Significant variation was noted between F accumulation efficiency and genetic diversity of different population of P. juliflora. Genetic diversity parameters viz: percentage of polymorphic bands (PPB), Nei’s genetic diversity (H) and Shannon’s information index (I) within the populations of P. juliflora species was highest in Rajasthan population, i.e. 21.62%, 0.08, 0.11 and lowest in Maharashtra population, i.e. 2.70 %, 0.01, 0.01 respectively. The high diversity levels in Rajasthan populations acts as a buffer to combat F stress and be an important selection criterion in developing lines with greatest phytoremediation potential. This study suggests that Rajasthan genotype could be effectively used as hyperaccumulator for F phytoremediation. Further investigations on Rajasthan genotype to identify genomic regions linked to factors involved in F hyperaccumulation will be of great value.