Identification and diversity of Myanmar chickpea root nodule bacteria, 'Mesorhizobium ciceri'

Abstract

To identify the genetic diversity of 281 chickpea rhizobium isolates collected from different locations of Sagging Division, Myanmar, carbon source utilization test and molecular analysis were conducted at the laboratory of Plant Pathology, Yezin Agricultural University (YAU), Myanmar, and laboratory of Biotechnology, Suranaree University of Technology (SUT), Thailand. Based on the results of different carbon source utilization, the isolates were classified into ten groups, and 22 isolates from different groups were selected for further study of chromosomal DNA analysis by RAPD-PCR hybridization and agarose gel electrophoresis. When the results of the banding patterns were examined by using NTSYScluster analysis, 22 isolates were grouped into 5 clusters. The results indicated that test strains of 'Mesorhizobium ciceri' showed relatively high genetic diversity.