Genetic diversity of Simao pine in China revealed by SRAP markers

Abstract

Background Simao pine (Pinus kesiya Royle ex Gordon var. langbianensis (A. Chev.) Gaussen) is one of the most important tree species in the production of timber and resin in China. However, the genetic diversity of the natural populations has not been assessed to date. In this study, sequence related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) markers were used to investigate the genetic composition of natural Simao pine populations. Method The SRAP markers were applied and their efficiency was compared using various statistical multivariate methods, including analysis molecular of variance (AMOVA), the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA), and Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA). Results The 11 populations revealed a high level of genetic diversity (PPB = 95.45%, H = 0.4567, I = 0.6484) at the species level. A moderately low level of genetic differentiation (Gst = 0.1701), and a slightly high level of gene flow (Nm = 2.4403) were observed among populations using AMOVA. Eleven populations of Simao pine were gathered into four distinct clusters based on molecular data, and the results of UPGMA and PCoA also illustrated that assignment of populations is not completely consistent with geographic origin. The Mantel test revealed there was no significant correlation between geographic and genetic distance (r = 0.241, p = 0.090). Discussion The SRAP markers were very effective in the assessment of genetic diversity in Simao pine. Simao pine populations display high levels of genetic diversity and low or moderate levels of genetic differentiation due to frequent gene exchange among populations. The low genetic differentiation among populations implied that conservation efforts should aim to preserve all remaining natural populations of this species. The information derived from this study is useful when identifying populations and categorizing their population origins, making possible the design of long term management program such as genetic improvement by selective breeding.

Genetic Diversity and Population Divergence of a Rare, Endemic Grass (Elymus breviaristatus) in the Southeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

“…In addition to molecular markers, allozyme markers are normally also one of the important method for genetic diversity studying though the result were different for E. breviaristatus populations from similar eco-region [18]. As dominant markers, SRAP markers could reveal higher genetic polymorphism in E. breviaristatus than with allozyme markers (PPB = 92.37% for SRAP markers and PPB = 57.1% for allozyme markers, Table S6), which showed that the SRAP markers had more effectiveness than allozyme in analyzing genetic diversity, which was also proved by Wang et al [42].…”

“…And it is very clear that the three remaining populations were extremely different from each other. Gene flow is essential for understanding the evolution of plants and the population processes within and among species [42]. Even if there was subtle genetic structure, its function may be weakened by foreign immigrants [43].…”

QTL mapping for growth-related traits by constructing the first genetic linkage map in Simao pine

“…Fresh and young healthy needles from parents and mapping population (100 hybrid individuals) were collected and frozen in liquid nitrogen at once. The genomic DNA was isolated using the improved cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) method [ 53 ]. The permission of the plant materials collection was approved by Southwest Forestry University (project number: 2018Y31).…”

QTL mapping for growth-related traits by constructing the first genetic linkage map in Simao pine

“…Fresh and young healthy needles from parents and mapping population (100 hybrid individuals) were collected and frozen in liquid nitrogen at once. The genomic DNA was isolated using the improved cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) method (Wang et al, 2019).…”