Differentiating Groups of Abies Species With a Simple Molecular Marker

Abstract

The unambiguous identification of closely related species is useful for many practical purposes in forest tree species. For example, international laws require timber identification and the control of the origin of forest reproductive material. In this paper, we present a mitochondrial DNA marker which can be used to differentiate among groups of fir species (Abies spp.). Eight Mediterranean and one North American fir species (used as reference) were analysed at the fourth intron of the NAD subunit 5 gene. A total of six different haplotypes was identified, one in the American Abies concolor, the other five in Mediterranean species. Two different haplotypes were found each in the widespread A. alba and in A. cephalonica, one haplotype being shared among the two species. A single species specific haplotype was found in the near-eastern A. cilicica. The two southwestern species A. pinsapo and A. numidica shared one haplotype. The fifth haplotype was shared by all remaining eastern Mediterranean firs, A. cephalonica, A. bornmuelleriana, A. equi-troiani, and A. nordmanniana. Differences in haplotype sequences were mainly due to large insertions/deletions. Agarose gel electrophoresis thus provides a fast, cheap and reliable diagnosis method for species or species group identification.

Wood anatomical relationships within Abies spp. from the Mediterranean area: a phyletic approach

“…4) coincides with the molecular similarity seen between these taxa in earlier studies with allozyme markers (Scaltsoyiannes et al, 1999) and chloroplast DNA markers (Parducci and Szmidt, 1999). The position of A. alba in relation to the PC1 axis, grouped with the Spanish and Moroccan provenances of A. pinsapo, coincides with the clade observed using allozyme markers (Scaltsoyiannes et al, 1999), but not with the results observed using DNA markers, in which A. alba is placed closer to the eastern firs (Parducci and Szmidt, 1999;Ziegenhagen et al, 2005). However, in A. alba high intraspecific variability has been observed, with unique haplotypes which distinguish it from the other eastern firs (Vendramin et al, 1999;Parducci et al, 2001;Ziegenhagen et al, 2005).…”

“…The position of A. alba in relation to the PC1 axis, grouped with the Spanish and Moroccan provenances of A. pinsapo, coincides with the clade observed using allozyme markers (Scaltsoyiannes et al, 1999), but not with the results observed using DNA markers, in which A. alba is placed closer to the eastern firs (Parducci and Szmidt, 1999;Ziegenhagen et al, 2005). However, in A. alba high intraspecific variability has been observed, with unique haplotypes which distinguish it from the other eastern firs (Vendramin et al, 1999;Parducci et al, 2001;Ziegenhagen et al, 2005). The distribution of A. alba in Europe is very wide, encompassing the principle mountain areas of central and southern Europe (Fig.…”

“…A. numidica is far from this group according to PC2, in which it is located near the Grazalema provenance of A. pinsapo. Chloroplast DNA markers (Parducci and Szmidt, 1999) and mitochondrial markers (Ziegenhagen et al, 2005) place A. numidica genetically close to A. pinsapo, as they share haplotypes. It is possible that the Grazalema population, which in PC2 is positioned far from the other A. pinsapo provenances, has a closer phyletic relation to A. numidica than the other populations of A. pinsapo and its Moroccan varieties do.…”

“…Various hypotheses have been put forward as to how the genus Abies evolved, on the basis of several features such as morphological and anatomical (Dallimore and Jackson, 1923;Mattfeld, 1930;Flous, 1936Flous, , 1937Turill in Klaehn and Winieski, 1962), botanical (Pignatti, 1978;Quézel, 1978;Medus and Pons, 1980;Soto, 1998) and ecological (Arbez, 1969;Quézel et al, 1980;Mayer, 1981), in addition to pollen analysis (Aytug, 1959), phenolic composition (Granados and Rossell, 1966), terpene composition (Koedam, 1981;Fady, 1990), DNA analysis (Vicario et al, 1995;Parducci and Szmidt, 1999;Ziegenhagen et al, 2005), and allozyme analysis (Parducci et al, 2001). Fady et al (1992) and Scaltsoyiannes et al (1999) proposed a monophyletic evolutionary hypothesis for the genus Abies in the Mediterranean, according to which an ancient progenitor fir existed at the beginning of the Miocene in the Balkan Peninsula, in the Aegean, between the Ionian Sea and Turkey.…”

Genetic diversity of Spanish fir (Abies pinsapo Boiss.) populations by means of megagametophyte storage proteins

“…Although there are some studies focused on the structure and dynamics of Spanish fir forests (Arista, 1995;Arista and Talavera, 1996;1997), there appear to be no papers in the literature concerning the genetic structure of their populations. Specifically, most studies have been carried out to discriminate between the species of the Abies genus using different molecular markers as isozymes, mitochondrial DNA markers and chloroplast microsatellites (Pascual et al, 1993;Scaltsoyiannes et al, 1999;Terrab et al, 2007;Ziegenhagen et al, 2005).…”