ABSTRACT
Antheraea assamensis Helfer, popularly known as Muga silkworm, the golden silk producer of Northeast India, is economically important and unique among the Saturniid silkworms. Muga silkworm is said to exhibit three semi-domesticated morphs i.e. green, blue, orange and one wild morph. In this study, the genetic diversity and phylogeny among the morphs of Muga silkworm collected from various geographical locations of Northeast India were investigated using RAPD and internal transcribed spacer DNA1 (ITS1) sequences. Thirty random primers generated 192 discrete bands; 123 of them were polymorphic (64.062%). The average amplicon per primer was found to be 6.4. In RAPD analysis, a wide range of genetic distance i.e. 0.0544-0.6228 was observed among the morphs. In the ITS1 sequence analysis, 35.35% of polymorphism and a range of genetic distance from 0.0024 to 0.2349 were observed. The phylogenetic trees based on RAPD and ITS1 sequences comprised of two major clades. The first clade comprised of the semi-domesticated morphs while the second clade included the wild morphs of different geographical origin. The information generated in this study can be used for conservation of the Muga silkworm through effective breeding programs