Assessment of Genetic Diversity Among Cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata) Genotypes Using RAPD-PCR Markers
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53560/PPASB(63-3)1137Keywords:
Brassica oleracea var. capitata, RAPD-PCR, Genetic Diversity, Molecular Markers, PolymorphismAbstract
Cabbage is one of the important winter vegetables in Iraq, and it belongs to the cruciferous family. The main objective of this study was to investigate the genetic variation of several varieties of cabbage plants. Ten cabbage varieties imported into Iraq as new and exotic genotypes were evaluated. Firstly, the seeds were planted in the fields of Agriculture and Forestry, University of Mosul, and the leaves of ten different types of cabbage were collected. All the samples were processed for DNA isolation and amplified using the random amplified polymorphic DNA polymerase chain reaction (RAPD-PCR) technique to assess genetic variation within and among the varieties. Five primers obtained from the NCBI database were used for RAPD analysis in the Central Laboratory of the College of Agriculture and Forestry. The RAPD profiles showed variation in the sizes of amplified DNA bands, which ranged from 50 to 3000 bp. In total, 250 bands were recorded, comprising 138 monomorphic bands, 112 polymorphic bands; while there were 5 unique bands. The OPC-08-K primer showed the best variance percentage, primer efficiency, and discriminatory ability, reaching 71.43%, 28.00%, and 36.61%, respectively. The study demonstrates the potential of RAPD-PCR for evaluating genetic diversity and distinguishing different cabbage varieties.
References
1. M.E. Mabry, S.D. Turner-Hissong, E.Y. Gallagher, A.C. McAlvay, H. An, P.P. Edger, J.D. Moore, D.A.C. Pink, G.R. Teakle, C.J. Stevens, G. Barker, J. Labate, D.Q. Fuller, R.G. Allaby, T. Beissinger, J.E. Decker, M.A. Gore and J.C. Pires. The evolutionary history of wild, domesticated, and feral Brassica oleracea (Brassicaceae). Molecular Biology and Evolution 38(10): 4419-4434 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msab183
2. G. Murillo and R.G. Mehta. Cruciferous vegetables and cancer prevention. Nutrition and Cancer 41(1&2): 17-28. (2001). https://doi.org/10.1080/01635581.2001.9680607
3. A. Podsędek. Natural antioxidants and antioxidant capacity of Brassica vegetables: A review. Food Science and Technology-LWT 40: 1-11 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lwt.2005.07.023
4. N.G. Nguyen, and L.N. Sally. Genebank phenomics: A strategic approach to enhance value and utilization of crop germplasm. Plants 9(7): 817 (2020). https://doi.org/10.3390/plants9070817
5. J.G.K. Williams, A.R. Kubelik, K.J. Livak, J.A. Rafalski, and S.V. Tingey. DNA polymorphisms amplified by arbitrary primers are useful as genetic markers. Nucleic Acids Research 18(22): 6531-6535 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/18.22.6531
6. I.E. Divaret, E. Margale and G. Thomas. RAPD markers on seed bulks efficiently assess the genetic diversity of a Brassica oleracea L. collection. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 98(6): 1029-1035 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/s001220051164
7. R.L. Cansian and S. Echeverrigaray. Discrimination among cultivars of cabbage using randomly amplified polymorphic DNA markers. HortScience. 35(6): 1155-1158 (2000). https://journals.ashs.org/hort/hort/published/rest/pdf-watermark/v1/journals/hortsci/35/6/article-p1155.pdf/watermark-pdf/
8. Y. Wang, X. Li, J. Xu, Y. Xu, and L. Liu. Cultivar identification and genetic diversity analysis of cauliflower with molecular markers. Acta Horticulturae 918(1): 315-322 (2011). DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2011.918.40
9. E. Margale, Y. Herve, J. Hue, and C.F. Quiros. Determination of genetic variability by RAPD markers in cauliflower, cabbage and kale local cultivars from France. Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution. 42: 281-289 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02431263
10. X. Lu, T. Zhang, Y. Ma, C. Han, W. Yang, Y. Pu, and and et al. Advances in Genetic Diversity of Germplasm Resources, Origin and Evolution of Turnip Rape (Brassica rapa L.). Plants 14(15): 2311 (2025). https://doi.org/10.3390/plants14152311
11. M. Islam, A. Habib, S. Khan, S. Akter, B. Goswami, H. Khan, and T.A. Banu. Molecular characterization of oil seed Brassica using RAPD markers. Bangladesh Journal of Scientific and Industrial Research 55(1): 1-8 (2020). https://doi.org/10.3329/bjsir.v55i1.46726
12. B. Pipan, M. Neji, V. Meglič, and L. Sinkovič. Genetic diversity of kale (Brassica oleracea L. var. acephala) using agro-morphological and simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution 71(3): 1221-1239 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-023-01686-6
13. J. Sadowski and C. Kole (Eds.) Genetics, Genomics and Breeding of Vegetable Brassicas. CRC Press, Boca Raton (2011). https://doi.org/10.1201/b10880
14. W.B. Phippen, S. Kresovich, F.G. Candelas, and J.R. McFerson. Molecular characterization can quantify and partition variation among genebank holdings: a case study with phenotypically similar accessions of Brassica oleracea var. capitata L.(cabbage) Golden Acre'. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 94(2): 227-234 (1997). DOI: 10.1007/s001220050404
15. P. Kamiński, M. Staniaszek, and E.U. Kozik. Evaluation of genetic diversity and uniformity of head cabbage DH lines by the use of RAPD markers. Journal of Applied Genetics 44(2): 157-163 (2003). https://europepmc.org/article/med/12773793
16. B. Saxena, R. Kaur, and S.V. Bhardwaj. Assessment of genetic diversity in cabbage cultivars using RAPD and SSR markers. Journal of Crop Science and Biotechnology 14(3): 191-196 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12892-011-0018-2
17. A. Lazaro and I. Aguinagalde. Phylogenetic relationships between the wild taxa of the Brassica oleracea L. group (2n = 18) using random amplified polymorphic DNA assay. Scientia Horticulturae 65(4): 219-227 (1996). DOI: 10.1016/0304-4238(96)00894-1
18. M. Nei and W.H. Li. Mathematical model for studying genetic variation in terms of restriction endonucleases. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 76(10): 5269-5273 (1979). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.76.10.5269
19. J.B. dos Santos, J. Nienhuis, P. Skroch, J. Tivang, and M.K. Slocum. Comparison of RAPD and RFLP genetic markers in determining genetic similarity among Brassica oleracea L. genotypes. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 87(8): 909-915 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00225784
20. A. Illahi, I. Mardatillah, P.E. Nasri, D.I. Roesma, and Mansyurdin. Genetic Variation in Local Cultivar of Singgalang Cabbage (Brassica oleracea L. var. capitata) Using RAPD Marker. Scholars Academic Journal of Biosciences 6(8): 579-584 (2018). DOI: 10.36347/sajb.2018.v06i08.003
21. H.J.M. Al-Tameme. Estimation of genetic variations in different taxa in Brassicaceae by RAPD and ISSR analysis. Bulletin of the Iraq Natural History Museum 15(1): 1-13 (2018). https://doi.org/10.26842/binhm.7.2018.15.1.0001
22. A. Raza, S.S. Mehmood, F. Ashraf, and R.S.A. Khan. Genetic Diversity Analysis of Brassica Species Using PCR-Based SSR Markers. Gesunde Pflanzen 71: 1-7 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10343-018-0435-y
23. J. Amas, R.K. Natarajan, W.J.W. Thomas, D. Edwards, J. Batley, and A. Dolatabadian. Genomic advances in orphan and underutilized Brassicaceae crops and their wild relatives. Frontiers in Plant Sciences 17: 1878836 (2026). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2026.1878836
24. K.K. Ghosh, M.E. Haque, S. Parvin, F. Akhter, and M.M. Rahim. Genetic Diversity Analysis in Brassica Varieties Through RAPD Markers. Bangladesh Journal of Agricultural Research 34(3): 493-503 (2009). https://doi.org/10.3329/bjar.v34i3.3976
25. R. Fujimoto and Y. Takada (Eds.). Plants: Genetics and Genomics of the Brassicaceae. MDPI, Basel, Switzerland (2022). https://mdpi-res.com/bookfiles/book/4829/Genetics_and_Genomics_of_the_Brassicaceae.pdf?v=1790212061
26. J. Wu, J. Liang, R. Lin, X. Cai, L. Zhang, X. Guo, T. Wang, H. Chen, and X. Wan. Investigation of Brassica and its relative genomes in the post-genomics era. Horticulture Research 9: uhac182 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1093/hr/uhac182
27. S. Kresovich, J.G.K. Williams, J.R. McFerson, E.J. Routson, and B.A. Schaal. Characterization of genetic identities and relationships of Brassica oleracea L. via a random amplified polymorphic DNA assay. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 85(2): 190-196 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00222859
28. Y. Xu, M. Xing, L. Song, J. Yan, W. Lu, and A. Zeng. Genome-Wide Analysis of Simple Sequence Repeats in Cabbage (Brassica oleracea L.). Frontiers in Plant Science 12: 726084 (2021). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2021.726084.
29. I. Divaret and G. Thomas. Use of RAPD markers to analyze the genetic variability of a collection of Brassica oleracea L. International Symposium Brassica 97, Xth Crucifer Genetics Workshop pp. 255-264 (1998). https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1998.459.29
30. S. Singh, K. Kalia, and S. Raman. Cauliflower, broccoli, and Knol Khol genetic resources. In: Vegetable Crops. Handbooks of Crop Diversity: Conservation and Use of Plant Genetic Resources. P. Kalia (Ed.). Springer, Singapore pp. 625-719 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-8949-8_21
31. W.M. Khan, I. Munir, Farhatullah, M. Arif, A. Iqbal, I. Ali, D. Ahmad, M. Ahmad, A. Mian, J. Bakht, Inamullah, and Z. A. Swati. Assessment of genetic diversity of Brassica juncea germplasm using randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers. African Journal of Biotechnology 10(19): 3654-3658 (2011). https://academicjournals.org/journal/AJB/article-full-text-pdf/912C6D024813
32. J. Hu and C.F. Quiros. Identification of broccoli and cauliflower cultivars with RAPD markers. Plant Cell Reports 10: 505-511 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00234583
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Upon acceptance of an article, its copyright will be assigned to the Pakistan Academy of Sciences.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY). Allows users to: copy the article and distribute; abstracts, create extracts, and other revised versions, adaptations or derivative works of or from an article (such as a translation); include in a collective work (such as an anthology); and text or data mine the article. These uses are permitted even for commercial purposes, provided the user: includes a link to the license; indicates if changes were made; gives appropriate credit to the author(s) (with a link to the formal publication through the relevant DOI); and does not represent the author(s) as endorsing the adaptation of the article or modify the article in such a way as to damage the authors' honor or reputation.
