Summary: The use of silicon is an option for reducing the adverse effects of water deficit conditions. Dendrobium nobile Lindl. is a native orchid from Lampung, Indonesia, and one of the most widespread ornamental members of the family Orchidaceae. It contains alkaloids, flavonoids, and terpenoids, which are beneficial as antiviral compounds. Characterization succeeded in determining the potential variations in its genetic stability and phytochemical properties through DNA nucleotide sequence polymorphism analysis using the random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD). The presented research involved eight accessions of D. nobile collected from the Liwa Botanical Garden, West Lampung, Indonesia. The screening used five primers, viz., OPA-01, OPA-07, OPN-07, OPC-16, and OPD-08. The study revealed a PIC value (≥ 0.3), indicating that these molecular markers were more informative. The amplification process produced 107–134 DNA bands, including 17 polymorphic bands ranging from 200–1000 bp. The polymorphism rate for each primer ranged from 0.31 to 0.40. Phylogenetic analysis grouped the accessions into two clusters with coefficient values at >0.85 and >0.9, while similarity indices were 0.33 and 0.55, respectively. The accessions’ further dividing into two subclusters comprised subcluster I (D2, D5, D1, D7, D4, and D8) and subcluster II (D3), based on habitat differences and environmental factors linked to their domestication. The PCR-RAPD proved more effective in characterizing the genetic stability in relation to antiviral phytochemicals.
Dendrobium nobile Lindl., Orchidaceae, genetic stability, phytochemical and antiviral properties, RAPD, polymorphism
The RAPD technique was evidently more effective in characterizing the genetic stability related to antiviral properties of the Dendrobium nobile accessions in Lampung, Indonesia.