Genetic Variation Analysis in Drought-Resistant Crop Species Using Molecular Markers

Abstract

Climate change due to human activities has aggravated the amount of water available in the world, hence making drought a major limitation to agricultural production. This research examined the genetic diversity and the population composition of the drought-tolerant germplasm through the application of high-throughput molecular markers to identify the genome regions related to abiotic stress resilience. Under controlled conditions of water-deficit, a diverse set of crop genotypes was screened, and genomic DNA was extracted and amplified using a set of polymorphic Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) and Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) marker sets. To measure the level of intra-specific variation, parameters of genetic variation, such as alleles per locus, observed and expected heterozygosity, and Polymorphic Information Content (PIC), were computed. Findings showed a high degree of genetic polymorphism. Cluster analysis was useful in classifying the genotypes into distinct groups based on their physiological response to drought, with Principal Coordinate Analysis (PCoA) and Bayesian-based population structure modeling further supporting the genetic differentiation, and the particular alleles were consistently found in the accessions that had a high yield and were tolerant to drought. These molecular associations show a high potential for Marker-Assisted Selection (MAS) and the creation of climate-sensitive types. This study, by shedding light on the genetic architecture of drought resistance, offers an essential genomic model of breeding-focused interventions directed at the improvement of the stability of crops and world food security. The identified markers provide a powerful means of the rapid introgression of stress-resistant phenotypes in elite breeding lines, which links the gap between molecular discovery and field-based implementation.