Comparative molecular and chemical fingerprinting found accession “Clone-64” as the best genetic material for jojoba industry

Jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis) is an important commercial shrub. Concerns have been raised about the availability of the good raw material for various industries to lower down the costs of products. Seed planted populations are highly variable in yields and growth habits. For this reason, there is need to develop a selection programs that improves the crop productivity of good quality seed plants. Jojoba industry, mainly depends on its oil, but the remaining seed meal is also useful for various industries like cosmetics, animal fodder, bio fuel etc. In the present study 14 different accessions of jojoba are used for the chemical and molecular fingerprinting. Chemical fingerprinting of jojoba includes both nutritional (Carbohydrate, protein, polyphenol, aminoacids, antioxidants) as well as antinutritional factor (Simmondsin). Simmondsin content was analyzed by using HPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromatography) technique. Molecular fingerprinting was done by using ISSR (Inter Simple Sequence Repeat) molecular markers. Finally the correlation of molecular and chemical fingerpring data showed that accession Clone-64 having highest nutritional value and formed a separate OTU (Operational Taxonomic Unit) in dendrogram. Thus, this accession could be good candidates for different commercial applications. Our data strongly suggest that cumulative approach (molecular and chemical fingerprinting) proved to be best for accessing, the relationship between different accessions of jojoba in future breeding programs.