Abstract

Cultivated bananas (Musa spp.) are mostly diploid or triploid cultivars with various combinations of the A and B genomes inherited from their diploid ancestors Musa acuminata Colla. and Musa balbisiana Colla. respectively. Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers were used to establish the relatedness of 27 accessions in the Mauritian Musa germplasm. 15 decamer primers produced a total of 115 reproducible amplification products, of which 96 were polymorphic. Computation of the genetic distances shows that similarities ranged from 0.3 to 1.0 with an average of 0.51. With a few exceptions, cluster analysis differentiated pure A containing cultivars from those containing at least one B genome. This paper answers long standing questions on the taxonomic placement of the cultivar ‘Banane Rouge’ by providing the basis for its classification within the homogenomic A cultivars. The results presented here also contribute to narrowing the gaps in our current understanding of the migration path of bananas and the emergence of secondary centers of diversity.

Key words: Dendrogram, genetic distances, genetic diversity.