Correlation analysis of genetic diversity and population structure of Houttuynia cordata Thunb with regard to environment

Abstract

ABSTRACT.To study the levels of genetic diversity, and population structure, of Houttuynia cordata Thunb, the genetic background and relationships of populations were analyzed in terms of environmental factors. The genetic diversity and population structure of H. cordata were investigated using sequence-related amplified polymorphisms and correlation with environmental factors was analyzed using the SPSS software. Two thousand one hundred sixty-three sites were amplified from 41 pairs of primers, 1825 of which were polymorphic, and the percentage of polymorphic loci was 84.37%; the percentage of polymorphic sites was 72.14 and 67.77% at the species and population level, respectively. The observed number of alleles was 1.52 and 1.30 at species and population level, respectively. The effective number of alleles was 1.38 and 1.24 at species and population level, respectively. The Nei's diversity was 0.26 and 0.15 at species and population level, respectively. The Shannon's information index was 0.87 and 0.63 at species and population level, respectively. The genetic differentiation coefficient of populations was 0.51, and 12 populations were divided into three classes based on D = 0.20; the genetic diversities of different populations are correlated at different significance levels (P < 0.05) with environmental factors. Genetic differentiation existed among populations and the populations exhibited heteroplasmy.

Genetic Diversity and Population Structure of a Medicinal Herb Houttuynia cordata Thunb. of North-East India

“…This could be one reason for observed high genetic variation between regions and low genetic variation among population within region. Similar explanation was also suggested by Zhong et al 2016, where they investigated genetic diversity and population structure of H. cordata Thunb. from China using sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) marker.…”

“…Many studies from China have reported genetic diversity of H. cordata Thunb. based on morphological features, isozyme, chromosome number and ISSR markers (Wu et al 2002(Wu et al , 2003Wei and Wu 2012;Zhong et al 2016). But until now, no study has targeted the genetic diversity and population structure of this important medicinal plant in North-East India, although this information is essential for the formulation of any effective conservation strategies.…”