Chloroplast DNA Diversity in Populations of P. sylvestris L. from Middle Siberia and the Romanian Carpathians

Abstract

Scots pine is one of the dominant conifer species in forest ecosystems of the boreal zone in Eurasia. Knowledge of the genetic structure and the level of genetic variability of Scots pine populations is relevant for the development of measures aimed at conservation of species’ diversity. In this study, we used ten paternally inherited chloroplast microsatellite loci to investigate the genetic diversity of nineteen Scots pine populations from Middle Siberia and the Romanian Carpathians. The results of the study showed high genetic diversity (HCP = 0.91–1.00) in all of the investigated populations. The cpSSR analysis yielded a total of 158 haplotypes. The majority of the haplotypes (85%) were detected only once (unique haplotypes). Three common haplotypes were found between the Carpathian and the Siberian populations of Scots pine. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) showed that only 3% of the variation occurred among populations from Middle Siberia and 6% of the variation existed among populations from the Carpathian Mountains. Overall, we found a weak geographic population structure in Scots pine from Middle Siberia and the Romanian Carpathians. The present study on genetic diversity in the Siberian and the Carpathian populations of Scots pine may contribute to the sustainable management and conservation of Scots pine genetic resources in Middle Siberia and the Romanian Carpathians.

Genetic legacy of southern Middle Siberian mountain and foothill populations of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.): Diversity and differentiation

“…Decrease of population size, due to fires and logging, diseases and environmental pollution leads to the reduction of genetic diversity (Ellstrand and Elam, 1993). In the study by Sheller et al (2021) the lowest level of chloroplast DNA haplotype diversity was also detected in one of the Balgazyn Scots pine populations, confirming the need the conservation of these genetic resources.…”

“…The genetic specificity of many population groups in marginal parts of the species' distribution range was also observed in Iberia, Transcaucasia, Asia Minor and Eastern Siberia (Prus-Glowacki and Stephan, 1994;Sinclair et al, 1999;Sannikov et al, 2005;Cheddadi et al, 2006;Naydenov et al, 2007;Pihäjärvi et al, 2008;Dering et al, 2017Dering et al, , 2021Sheller et al, 2023). At the same time, a significant homogeneity of populations was revealed within certain regions of Scandinavia, Central, Western and Eastern Europe, Siberia (Goncharenko et al, 1993;Zhelev et al, 1994;Sinclair et al, 1999;Robledo-Arnuncio et al, 2005;Cheddadi et al, 2006;Pihäjärvi et al, 2008;Semerikov et al, 2018;Sheller et al, 2021Sheller et al, , 2023.…”

Characterization of the Plastid Genomes of Four Caroxylon Thunb. Species from Kazakhstan

“…SSRs are widespread throughout plastid genomes across different species and are extensively employed in plant population studies [58][59][60]. In this study, the identified SSRs varied in number, with counts ranging from 198 in C. nitrarium to 208 in C. dzhungaricum plastomes, resulting in a total of 814 SSRs (Table 4).…”

Molecular characterisation of Pinus sylvestris (L.) in Ireland at the western limit of the species distribution

“…This is also the case between Scottish and continental populations, and it is only between European and Anatolian populations that cpSSR structure is apparent [ 96 ]. A recent establishment of northwest populations together with homogenising pollen-mediated gene flow likely explain the absence of sub-population differentiation in Europe [ 6 , 93 , 106 , 107 ]. In this study, only Dale Wood was differentiated (Table S 4 , Figure S 2 ), and this was due to very low variation (Fig.…”