CHARACTERIZATION OF A NEW BIOTYPE Moringa OF SAUDI ARABIA USING RAPD AND ISSR MARKERS

<p><em>Moringa peregrina</em> and <em>M. oleifera</em> are the only <em>Moringa </em>species found in Saudi Arabia. Both species are drought resistant and have very high nutritional and medicinal properties. Detection of genetic diversity is of great value for the improvement of nutritional and medicinal value of these plants. The aim of the present study was to characterize a new biotype <em>Moringa</em> observed in Al Bahah Region, Saudi Arabia. We used 11 RAPD and 15 ISSR primers to characterize and compare the new biotype with <em>M. peregrina </em>and <em>M. oleifera</em>. Level of polymorphism generated by each marker was calculated. We also calculate Nei and Li’s coefficient to measure the genetic distance between the studied species. Level of polymorphism generated by RAPD and ISSR was 46% and 57%, respectively. RAPD and ISSR primers revealed that the new biotype shared 55 amplicons (45.08%) with both <em>M. peregrina </em>and <em>M. oleifera</em>, 28 amplicons with <em>M. peregrina</em> (22.95%), 21 amplicons (17.21%) with <em>M. oleifera</em>, and displayed 18 unshared amplicons (14.75%). Based on RAPD data, genetic distance between <em>M. oleifera</em> and <em>M. peregrina</em> was 0.32, whereas genetic distance between the new biotype and <em>M. oleifera</em> and <em>M. peregrina</em> was 0.21 and 0.29, respectively. For ISSR data, genetic distance between <em>M. oleifera</em> and <em>M. peregrina</em> was 0.5, whereas genetic distance between the new biotype and <em>M. oleifera</em> and <em>M. peregrina</em> was 0.36 and 0.34, respectively. Based on these results we suggested that the new biotype is a hybrid crossbred between <em>M. peregrina </em>and <em>M. oleifera.</em>