Assessment of plant genetic variations using molecular markers: A review

Abstract

Climatic changes affect various organisms, including plant species, becoming unfavorable for the environment
\nand socioeconomic value, prompting an increase in activities related to plant resources conservation. The
\nsuccessful conservation of plant genetic resources depends on the proper identification and characterization
\nof plant material. One of the notable developments in genetic conservation is the use of molecular markers for
\nassessing the conservation and use of plant genetic resources. This review is devoted to the use of molecular
\nmarker techniques for genetic assessment of plant genetic variations. Development in these techniques provides
\nsmooth, reliable, and effortless ways for assessing known and unknown taxa, between and within species. These
\ntechniques provide a revelation to researchers on taxonomical and evolutionary questions which were not
\npossible earlier. The polymerase chain reaction-based molecular markers give rise to various novel techniques
\ndue to the simplicity and high reproducibility of the methods. Examples including a combination of earlier
\ntechniques, such as restriction fragment length polymorphism, random amplification of polymorphic DNA,
\nsimple sequence repeat, intersimple sequence repeats, single nucleotide polymorphism, and amplified fragment
\nlength polymorphism, have been used for plant genetic variations and polymorphism studies. Progress in the
\nadvanced high-throughput sequencing techniques or next-generation sequencing technologies has been rapidly
\nutilized to study genetic diversity broadly and to identify suitable genes and alleles rapidly. These techniques offer a practical resolution to the challenges in crop genomics. This review explains the recent advances in the molecular marker techniques, along with the advantages, uses, and limitations. Each technique differs in resolving the genetic variations and polymorphism in plant species.

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