ISSR (Inter simple sequence repeat) markers were used to assess the genetic diversity and population structure in 53 indigenous and exotic genotypes of gladiolus ( Hort.). Molecular markers analysis showed PIC ranges from 0.42 (ISSR 861) to 0.99 (ISSR 855, ISSR 856 and ISSR 889) with an average 0.812, marker index ranged from 0.99 (ISSR 889) to 9.26 (ISSR 851) with an average 4.66 and resolving power of the primers ranged from 0.03 (ISSR 889) to 11.58 (ISSR 861) with an average value 3.80. The dendrogram based UPGMA clustering showed that all the 53 genotypes grouped into three main clusters. Nei's gene diversity (Na) varied from 0.929 to 1.717, effective number of alleles (Ne) varied from 1.262 to 1.369, Shannon's information index (I) ranged from 0.251 to 0.359 and gene diversity (He) was in the range from 0.167 to 0.229. Population structure analysis revealed three groups in which 32 genotypes were admixture types.

Demand of flowers is increasing with time worldwide. Floriculture has become one of the most important commercial trades in agriculture. Although traditional breeding methods like hybridization and mutation breeding have contributed significantly to the development of important flower varieties, flower production and quality of flowers can be significantly improved by employing modern breeding approaches. Novel traits of significance have interest to consumers and producers, such as fragrance, new floral color, change in floral architecture and morphology, vase life, aroma, and resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses, have been introduced by genetic manipulation. The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein (Cas) system has recently emerged as a powerful genome-editing tool for accurately changing DNA sequences at specific locations. It provides excellent means of genetically improving floricultural crops. CRISPR/Cas system has been utilized in gene editing in horticultural cops. There are few reports on the utilization of the CRISPR/Cas9 system in flowers. The current review summarizes the research work done by employing the CRISPR/Cas9 system in floricultural crops including improvement in flowering traits such as color modification, prolonging the shelf life of flowers, flower initiation, and development, changes in color of ornamental foliage by genome editing. CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing could be useful in developing novel cultivars with higher fragrance and enhanced essential oil and many other useful traits. The present review also highlights the basic mechanism and key components involved in the CRISPR/Cas9 system.

Background: The study was undertaken to assess the genetic diversity and genetic structure among fifty-five pea accessions using morphological traits and SSR markers. Methods: A total of 55 pea accessions were analyzed using eleven phenotypic traits and twenty SSR markers. The data obtained by morphological and molecular profiling was used for the analysis of genetic diversity and for the estimation of genetic diversity estimates, correlation, principal components analysis and population structure. Result: This study reveals that majority of genetic variation was due to variation within population and were clustered into two distinct groups, which reveals a high admixture within individuals. Accessions viz., VRP-82, VRP-320, VRP-194, VRP-375, EC-97280 and EC-8724, showed great diversity as compared to the other accessions based on both morphological and molecular markers. These accessions may assist in developing and planning breeding strategies aimed to produce new varieties in the future.

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