GENETIC DIVERSITY AND SEX IDENTIFICATION IN Genipa americana L.

Abstract

Ten genotypes of Genipa americana L. located in Arauá (Sergipe, Brazil) were analyzed using RAPD markers. The genotypes were selected according to sex - five females and five males - in an attempt to find a molecular marker associated with the sex prediction. 74 DNA fragments were generated by 20 primers, 85% of which were polymorphic. Results show a quantitative genetic diversity value of 0.28 and a Shannon index of 0.42 in the population. The similarity among the specimens according to Jaccard’s coefficient ranged from 0.22 to 0.75. The genetic diversity was relatively large among these individuals.