SCAR Marker Analysis of Somaclonal Variation on Different Abnormal Morphological Characteristics at Post-Planting Stage in Musa accuminata cv. Berangan

The regeneration of various horticultural species in vitro as tissue culture protocols make it potential for commercial scale multiplication which are available for any crops due to the improvements made in tissue culture techniques. Clonal propagation and preservation of elite genotypes which are being selected for their superior characteristics requires high degree of genetic uniformity amongst the regenerated plants. However, plant tissue culture can generate genetic variability which leads to the somaclonal variations. Morphological changes to the explant were observed in parallel with the increased BAP concentration used during growth in tissue culture stages of banana (Musa accuminata cv. Berangan) seedling. Previously, samples of banana tissue culture were treated with different BAP concentration (0 mg/l, 5 mg/l, 10 mg/l and 15 mg/l) to study the effect of somaclonal variation by plant growth regulator. Polymorphisms was observed among the plantlet by using RAPD analysis which were later developed to SCAR marker. In this study, the SCAR markers were used to analyse
the genome of somaclonal variation on different abnormal morphological characteristics at post planting stage in banana. Fifty-one samples of somaclonal variation clone of
bananas were collected at the field for each treatment with the knowledge of their plant height. The plantlets were screened using SCAR marker which were UMK-01,02; OPU06-01,02; OPU06-03,04 and OPJ13-03,04. After optimization of PCR, annealing temperature of 55 °C and template DNA volume of 4 μl were selected for all primers as the condition provide the most specific amplification. All of the SCAR markers showed monomorphic banding pattern except for OPJ13-03,04 where sample 35 showed a missing band. The variation however was unique only to this sample and not consistent
thorough the samples of the same treatment nor the same plant height average. This indicated that the genetic variant that occur to the sample is random and that any genetic change induced by the BAP was not uniform for all sample within the same treatment. Most importantly, the markers used could not differentiate the sample based on their group plant height, which were significantly different among the treated samples. Further analysis of the somaclonal variants of banana need to be done using other type DNA marker that were able to explain the variance among the treatment, notably its plant height. This information is crucial for early identification of stunted clones which are usually uneconomic for commercial planting.