Medicinal plants have been given great importance in recent years due to their demand in industry for human and animal welfare and attractive market prices. India is called the “botanical garden” of the world due to the diverse climatic ecosystem suitable for growing medicinal plants. India, being one of the 12 mega biodiversity countries in the world, needs to conserve its resources where they are exploited and should be cultivated commercially to avoid them being at risk of extinction due to indiscriminate use. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay Among various medicinal plants, Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal (Winter Cherry, Ashwagandha or Asgandh) of Solanaceae family is an important medicinal plant which finds wide use as a potential herb in traditional medicine system such as “rasayana” and “medhya rasayana”. The similarities between Ashwagandha roots and ginseng roots have led to it being called Indian ginseng.W. somnifera is a genetically simple species (2n = 48; n = 24; largely self-pollinated) best suited to developing cultivars for the commercial production of new sterols and alkaloids (Singh and Kumar 1998). It grows in dry and subtropical regions. The main Ashwagandha growing states are Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Gujarat and Maharashtra, among which Madhya Pradesh alone has more than 4000 hectares of cultivated area. Due to the presence of alkaloids in the roots, leaves and seeds, these are used in the preparation of Ayurvedic and Unani medicines, to combat a wide range of diseases, from tuberculosis to arthritis. An important part of ashwagandha are its roots, followed by leaves and berries due to the presence of "Withanolides". The major biochemical constituents of W. somnifera are steroidal alkaloids and lactones, a class of constituents together known as withanolides (steroidal lactones with ergostane backbone). Ongoing trials and animal research support the role of ashwagandha root and leaf extracts in several ailments and diseases. and possess properties such as anticancer, antioxidants, etc. and act as a source of a restorative drug. Molecular markers remain unaffected by physiological conditions and environmental factors, which is why they are widely applied in assessing genetic diversity among Dunal genotypes of W. somnifera (L.) and to identify duplicate accessions within germplasm collections. For the same reason, molecular markers are reliable for informative polymorphisms since the genetic composition is unique for each species. The most important development has occurred in the field of molecular genetics with the emergence of molecular markers as it is an effective tool for breeders to investigate new sources of variation and genetic factors that quantitatively control inherited traits. These markers are used for the detection and exploitation of DNA polymorphism (Semagn et al. 2010). To differentiate plants at an inter- and/or intraspecific level, genetic polymorphism plays a significant role, not only in medicinal plants but also in cereals, agricultural crops, plantations and horticulture. The most important role of conservation is to preserve the process of genetic diversity and development in the viable population of ecologically viable and commercially viable varieties/genotypes to avoid possible extinction (Rout et al. 2010). Different types of marker systems have been used for biodiversity analysis. These include RFLP, SSR, RAPD and AFLP. RAPD and ISSR markers are two molecular approaches that have been used to.