Classification of Iranian garlic [Allium sativum L.] ecotypes using RAPD marker

Garlic is a valuable medicinal plant with variability in desirable morphological and physiological characteristics. The analysis of genetic diversity plays an important role in breeding programs. The RAPD technique could be very effective in detecting genetic variation in garlic. The objective of the present work was to detect molecular polymorphism among Iranian garlic ecotypes by RAPD technique. Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA [RAPD] marker utilized to assess the genetic diversity among twenty-two different ecotypes of the Iranian garlic. Genomic DNA was extracted from young leaves using Dellaporta method. RAPD amplification was performed using ten 10-mers arbitrary primers. Results indicated that five out of ten pair primers had no amplification. A total of 35 RAPD bands were produced, 31 of which [88.5%] were polymorphic. The similarity matrices and dendrogram were obtained using UPGMA algorithms. In conclusion the entire population was grouped into four clusters with 3, 9, 1 and 9 ecotypes. No significant relationship between genetic diversity detected by RAPD technique and geographical origins

Production of secondary metabolites and pharmaceutical constituents through tissue and cell culture

Metabolism is known as chemical reactions, which occurs in alive plants. Primary metabolites include main biochemical materials i.e. carbohydrate, protein and fat. Biochemicals other than these three main groups are known as secondary metabolites, which exist in a wide range and are used as pharmaceutical products, food flavors, insecticides and natural dyes. Tissue culture is one of the main approaches in industrial production of secondary metabolites because the potential of their natural production is very limited. The main techniques, which have used in this field, include: cell culture, organ culture and hairy root culture. In order to improve production of secondary metabolites through cell culture several steps one involved: screening and selection of highly productive cell lines, manipulation of nutrients, optimizing the culture environment, use of elicitation, permeabilization of cells and in situ product removal. In general, we can say that using this approach has economical value in the production of natural medicinal compounds