Pamela Eloho Akin idowu

Title : Evaluation of genetic diversity among sixteen accessions of African Locust Bean (Parkia biglobosa Jacq.) using SDS PAGE and RAPD markers

Abstract:

Using protein and DNA fingerprinting to study genetic diversity among cultivars may provide useful information to plant breeders. Sixteen accessions of African locust bean (Parkia biglobosa) collected from different locations across Nigeria were assessed for variability based on polymorphism using sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) of seed storage proteins and Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis. SDS-PAGE revealed a substantial degree of homogeneity in the protein banding patterns ranging from 10 - 180 kDa polypeptides. One major cluster of bands was observed between 36 – 53 kDa and two minor clusters were observed between 11 and 17 kDa and at 180 kDa. The absence of 14 kDa band was specific to cultivar NH/2016/P04. Jaccard’s coefficient of similarity ranged from 0.846 to 0.923. Based on UPGMA cluster analysis, the 16 cultivars were separated into 2 major groups at 0.91. While most cultivars were clustered at a very narrow genetic distance (group 1), cultivars NH/2016/P03, NH/2016/P04 and NH/2016/P14 were clustered into group 2. This implies that most of the cultivars are closely related indicating that the genes of ALB are highly conserved. For the RAPD analysis, forty primers were screened for polymorphism out of which sixteen were polymorphic. The sixteen primers generated a total of 256 bands out of which 163 bands were polymorphic resulting in 63.67% polymorphism. The genetic diversity ranged from 0.4141 to 0.9297, while Polymorphic Information Content (PIC) ranged from 0.3874 to 0.9252. Dendogram generated from UPGMA cluster analysis separated the 16 ALB cultivars into six groups at 0.65. RAPD marker has the potential to discriminate cultivars with narrow genetic base.

Biography:

Dr Pamela Akin-Idowu is an Assistant director and a Research scientist at the National Horticultural Research Institute (NIHORT), Ibadan, Nigeria. She heads the biotechnology unit of NIHORT where she manages research laboratories and coordinates project activities. Pamela has a PhD in Biochemistry (specialization in plant molecular biology) from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Her current research focuses on developing and optimizing protocols for in vitro propagation of some horticultural crops for mass production of healthy planting materials to meet farmers need. She has over 18 years experience in plant tissue culture techniques and molecular characterization. Other areas of research interest are in the characterization of horticultural crops for conservation of germplasm for use in crop improvement programmes based on phenotypic (qualitative and quantitative methodologies) and DNA markers (RAPD, SSR, SDS-PAGE).

She is a recipient of many fellowships including the African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) a Bill and Melinda gates scholarship programme, Nuffic-Netherlands Fellowship Programme (NFP) and MASHAV (Government of Israel) Scholarship Programme.

She has attended much training locally, regionally and internationally where she gained knowledge and hands-on skills in both advanced tissue culture and molecular techniques.

Pamela has published in many peer reviewed journals and has presented papers in both local and international conferences. She has also organized training workshops on plant tissue culture technology where she has participated as resource person and course coordinator.

She is also a member of professional bodies like the International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS), American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB), Biotechnology Society of Nigeria (BSN) and the Horticultural Society of Nigeria (HORTSON).