RAPD Profiling in Detecting Genetic Variation in Endemic Coelonema (Brassicaceae) of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau of China

Abstract

Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers were used to measure genetic diversity of Coelonema draboides (Brassicaceae), a genus endemic to the Qilian Mountains of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. We sampled 90 individuals in 30 populations of Coelonema draboides from Datong and Huzhu counties of Qinghai Province in P.R. China. A total of 186 amplified bands were scored from the 14 RAPD primers, with a mean of 13.3 amplified bands per primer, and 87% (161 bands) polymorphic bands (PPB) was found. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) shows that a large proportion of genetic variation (84.2%) resides among individuals within populations, while only 15.8% resides among populations. The species shows higher genetic diversity between individuals than other endemic and endangered plants. The RAPDs provide a useful tool for assessing genetic diversity of rare, endemic species and for resolving relationships among populations. The results show that the genetic diversity of this species is high, possibly allowing it to adapt more easily to environmental variations. The main factor responsible for the high level of differentiation within populations and the low level of diversity among populations is probably the outcrossing and long-lived nature of this species. Some long-distance dispersal, even among far separated populations, is also a crucial determinant for the pattern of genetic variation in the species. This distributive pattern of genetic variation of C. draboides populations provides important baseline data for conservation and collection strategies for the species. It is suggested that only populations in different habitats should be studied and protected, not all populations, so as to retain as much genetic diversity as possible.

Genetic Diversity and Population Differentiation of the Dominant Species Stipa krylovii in the Inner Mongolia Steppe

“…RAPD-PCR has the advantage of being quick and easy, requiring little plant material, and can be used reliably and inexpensively to detect genetic polymorphism among organisms (Fritsch and Rieseberg, 1996;Williams et al, 1990). This relatively inexpensive molecular method has been widely used in applied and basic research in many different plant families (Bussell, 1999;Chen et al, 2005;Ge et al, 1998;Gustafson et al, 2002Gustafson et al, , 2004.…”

Genetic Variability and Differentiation Among Populations of the Azorean Endemic Gymnosperm Juniperus brevifolia: Baseline Information for a Conservation and Restoration Perspective

“…Nuclear DNA markers to measure genetic diversity that do not require a priori knowledge of genome components, such as RAPD and inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers, have been used to determine genetic variability and population structure of several endemic and endangered plant species (Palacios and González-Candelas 1997;Delgado et al 1999;Rossetto et al 1999;Li and Ge 2001;Lee et al 2003;Torres et al 2003;Bahulikar et al 2004;Chen et al 2004;Segarra-Moragues et al 2005). The applicability of nuclear DNA markers to several species of Juniperus has been demonstrated by previous studies (Adams and Demeke 1993;Adams et al 1998Adams et al , 2003Meloni et al 2006).…”

Genetic Diversity Assessment of Trollius Accessions in China by RAPD Markers

“…Genetic Diversity and Accession Genetic Structure RAPD markers require no genomic structure information on the material studied, and the binding sites of RAPD markers are randomly distributed on the genome DNA, so their use is appropriate to the study of genetic characteristics of a germplasm resource or the genetic diversity of closely related materials (Galván et al 2001;Chen et al 2005). The variance of population genetic estimates did not decrease substantially if more than 30 RAPD markers were used (Aagaard et al 1998).…”