Detection of genetic diversity in closely related bread wheat using microsatellite markers

Wheat microsatellites (WMS) were used to estimate the extent of genetic diversity among 40 wheat cultivars and lines, including mainly European elite material. The 23 WMS used were located on 15 different chromosomes, and revealed a total of 142 alleles. The number of alleles ranged from 3 to 16, with an average of 6.2 alleles per WMS. The average dinucleotide repeat number ranged from 13 to 41. The correlation coefficient between the number of alleles and the average number of repeats was only slight (r _s = 0.55). Based on percentage difference a dendrogram is presented, calculated by the WMS-derived data. All but two of the wheat cultivars and lines could be distinguished. Some of the resulting groups are strongly related to the pedigrees of the appropriate cultivars. Values for co-ancestry (f) of 179 pairs of cultivars related by their pedigrees (f0.1) averaged 0.29. Genetic similarity (GS) based on WMS of the same pairs averaged 0.44. The rank correlation for these pairs was slight, with r _s = 0.55, but highly significant (P<0.001). The results suggest that a relatively small number of microsatellites can be used for the estimation of genetic diversity and cultivar identification in elite material of hexaploid bread wheat.     

Assessing population genetic structure of sorghum landraces from North-western Morocco using allozyme and microsatellite markers

 The level of genetic diversity and the population genetic structure of sorghum landraces from North-western Morocco have been investigated based on direct field-sampling using both allozyme and microsatellite markers. As expected, microsatellite markers showed a much higher degree of polymorphism than allozymes, but relative measures of genetic structure such as Wright’s inbreeding coefficient F _IS and Nei’s coefficient of genetic differentiation G _ST were similar for the two sets of markers. Substantial inbreeding was found to occur within fields, which confirms that sorghum is predominantly selfing under cultivation. Most of the genetic diversity in Moroccan landraces occurs within fields (more than 85%), as opposed to among fields or among regions, a result which contrasts to those of studies based on accessions from germplasm collections. It is suggested that individual fields of sorghum constitute valuable units of conservation in the context of in situ conservation practices. Received: 8 December 1998 / Accepted: 28 December 1998     

Genetic characterization and breed assignment in five Italian sheep breeds using microsatellite markers

The knowledge of the genetic relationship and admixture among neighbouring populations is crucial for conservation efforts. The aim of this study was to analyse the genetic diversity of five Italian sheep breeds (Appenninica, Garfagnina Bianca, Massese, Pomarancina and Zerasca) using a panel of 24 microsatellite markers. Blood samples from 226 individuals belonging to the aforementioned populations were obtained and genotyped. All the investigated breeds showed a significant heterozygote deficiency caused by the high level of inbreeding indicated also by the high level of F_IS (0.146). Genetic differentiation between breeds was moderate (F_ST = 0.05) but significant and the individuals could be assigned to their breeds with an high success rate even if the inter-individual distances showed that few animals clustered separately from the other individuals of the same breed, especially for Pomarancina breed. The genetic distances reflect the historical knowledge of these breeds and some patterns of ancestral and recent gene flow between neighbour populations arise. The clustering analysis detects the presence of six clusters. Massese and Zerasca breeds were grouped together as well as Appenninica and Pomarancina with the latter forming two distinct clusters equally represented. The formation of this last breed is occurred with the absorption of individuals of the Appenninica breed and the gene flow probably continued in these recent years allowing the presence of a population substructure for Pomarancina breed. Such substructure supports the high level of heterozygote deficiency found for this breed despite the relatively high population size. The five populations analysed presented some genetic similarities but a clear uniqueness of the populations has been showed for almost all of them. Special attention to monitor genetic variability and to organize mating plans should be given especially for the three endangered breeds.     

湖栖鳍虾虎鱼微卫星DNA标记的 开发与群体遗传多样性分析

为研究雷州半岛湖栖鳍虾虎鱼(Gobiopterus lacustris)遗传多样性,对湖栖鳍虾虎鱼雌雄性腺进行转录组测序,采用MISA软件进行微卫星分析,共获得25 452个微卫星标记,其中包含14 708个单碱基重复类型,6 175个2碱基重复类型,3、4、5和6碱基重复类型数目分别为4 223、327、15和4。随机选取50个微卫星位点设计引物,能够扩增出清晰稳定条带的有39对,其中,11个位点表现出不同程度的多态,28个位点呈现单态。利用11个具有多态性的微卫星位点分析湖栖鳍虾虎鱼在廉江市高桥镇红树林保护区、湛江东海岛、雷州市附城镇和雷州市九龙山红树林国家湿地公园4个野生群体中的遗传多样性及遗传结构,11个微卫星位点呈现出不同程度的多态性,等位基因数(Na)2～15,平均等位基因为(6?3.9)个,有效等位基因数(Ne)、平均观测杂合度(Ho)和期望杂合度(He)分别在1.919～2.485、0.343～0.465和0.381～0.483之间,平均多态信息含量(PIC)为0.348～0.465。Hardy-Weinber平衡分析显示,4个群体的大部分位点未偏离平衡。在每个群体中进...     

Divergent levels of genetic variation and ploidy among populations of the rare shrub, Grevillea repens (Proteaceae)

Rare plant species are often restricted to small and/or isolated populations that can have reduced reproductive output and adaptive potential, resulting in an increased probability of extinction. Nevertheless, evolutionary changes might occur in such populations that increase their likelihood of persisting. In Australia, many threatened species from the ecologically important genus Grevillea (Proteaceae) are found in disjunct populations and these often display varied modes of reproduction from sexual to exclusively clonal. Here we use microsatellite markers to show that isolated populations across the entire range of G. repens have developed diverse patterns of genetic variation. The largest population has a relatively low level of genetic variation, one small population displays inbreeding, two populations show evidence of clonal reproduction and two contain both triploids and diploids. The global estimate of F _ST was moderately high (0.272) suggesting limited gene flow between populations and historical isolation. These findings indicate that the genetically distinct G. repens populations exhibit very different patterns of genetic variation and we propose that the development of clonality and polyploidy in small or isolated populations may allow persistence but also reduces the effective size of the sexual population. Grevillea repens populations from its eastern and western/western central centres of distribution should be viewed as separate units for conservation management.     

Genetic diversity in a germplasm collection of roseroot (Rhodiola rosea) in Norway studied by AFLP

Rhodiola rosea is widely distributed in Norway, but so far limited knowledge exists on the level of genetic diversity. To initiate a selective breeding program, Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP) analysis was used to estimate genetic diversity within the Norwegian R. rosea germplasm collection. AFLP analysis of 97 R. rosea clones using five primer combinations gave a total of 109 polymorphic bands. We detected high percentage of polymorphic bands (PPB) with a mean of 82.3% among the clones of R. rosea. Each of the 97 R. rosea clones could be unambiguously identified based on these primer combinations. Estimates of genetic similarities were obtained by the Dice coefficient, and a final dendrogram was constructed with the Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic mean (UPGMA). Genetic similarity based on the AFLP data ranged from 0.440 to 0.950 with a mean of 0.631. This genetic analysis showed that there was no close genetic similarity among clones related to their original growing county. No gender-specific markers were found in the R. rosea clones. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) revealed a significantly greater variation within regions (92.03%) than among regions (7.97%). A low level of genetic differentiation (F_ST = 0.043) was observed, indicating a high level of gene flow, which had a strong influence on the genetic structure at different counties. Our results indicate high gene flow among R. rosea clones that might be a result of seed dispersal rather than cross-pollination. Further world-wide studies are required to compare the level of genetic diversity and more studies in R. rosea detailing the consequences of different patterns of gene flow (pollen spread and dispersal of seeds and clonal plants) will be useful for characterization of roseroot.     

Rhinanthus plants found in calcareous fens on Gotland (Sweden): Are they related to Rhinanthus osiliensis from Saaremaa (Estonia)?

Rhinanthus osiliensis is a narrow endemic growing in calcareous spring fens on the island Saaremaa, Estonia. Plants very similar to R. osiliensis have been found in Sweden on the island of Gotland. Fifteen microsatellite markers were used to characterize genetic variation within R. osiliensis and the unknown taxon from Gotland. Results were compared with common Rhinanthus minor and Rhinanthus angstifolius. Our results showed that genetic diversity was remarkably lower in the Rhinanthus sp. from Gotland compared to Estonian endemic R. osiliensis. The microsatellite loci we used distinguished four studied species. In total, 46 species-specific alleles were found. The Neighbor-Joining dendrogram based on Nei's genetic distances, the Bayesian clustering analysis and the principle coordinate analysis showed that R. osiliensis and Rhinanthus sp. from Gotland are genetically differentiated and could not be the same species. In addition, endemic R. osiliensis was closer to widespread R. angustifolius. Further genetic comparison between unknown Rhinanthus sp. and local R. angustifolius and R. minor from Gotland is necessary for determine the species status and checking the possible alternative hypothesis about the origin of the unclear taxon.     

Clonal diversity of Phragmites australis propagating along water depth gradient

Clonal composition of a large, expanding reed stand was studied with two genetic profiling methods. Sampling was carried out along two parallel, and two perpendicular transects at the shore of Lake Balaton, Hungary, in a 900 m long reed stand, with distances between sampling points ranging from 15 to 30 m. The four primer pairs involved in microsatellite comparisons provided a total of 45 polymorphic allelic variants that determined 61 multilocus phenotypes. Along the transects, clone number decreased towards the deep water. RAPD analysis involved eleven random decamer primers and 115 repeatably amplifying and polymorphic RAPD fragments. Applying our new data evaluation method, highly similar information was gained from RAPD investigation and the microsatellite method on the number and extension of the clones. The results demonstrated that clone competition along a water depth gradient where generative reproduction is allowed only at the lakeshore edge brings about decreasing genetic diversity irrespectively of the health status of reed stand.     

Genetic diversity of the endangered and endemic species Psathyrostachys huashanica natural populations using simple sequence repeats (SSRs) markers

Psathyrostachys huashanica Keng., a species endemic to China, is only distributed in Huashan Mountain in Shaanxi Province. It has been listed as “national first-class protected rare species.” In this study, the microsatellites of barley were used to analyze genetic diversity of P. huashanica populations sampled from three valleys (Huangpu, Xian and Huashan Valleys) in Mt. Huashan. A total of 33 alleles of 11 loci were detected from 266 individuals. The observed average number of alleles (A) is 2.75; the effective number of alleles (Ae) is 1.67. The percentage of polymorphic loci (PPB) is 58.33% in Huangpu Valley, 75% in Xian Valley, 83.33% in Huashan Valley, and the total PPB is 83.33%. About 77.6% of (F_ST = 0.324) genetic diversity was observed within the subpopulations. Genetic differentiation within each subpopulations was higher than that among the subpopulations. Mean genetic distance is 0.17 (range: 0.010–0.401). Correlation analysis detected significant correlation between genetic distance and vertical distance of altitude in Huashan Valley. Differentiation mainly occurred between the higher altitude subpopulations and the lower altitude subpopulations, suggesting that altitude might be the major factor that restricted the gene flow between different altitude subpopulations and resulted in differentiation of subpopulations.     

Genetic diversity in maize landraces from indigenous settlements of Northeastern Argentina

In South America, native maize germplasm has been extensively studied particularly for the Andean region. However, relatively few genetic diversity studies include materials from the eastern region of the continent. Herein we present a genetic diversity characterization of four Popcorn maize landraces, maintained in indigenous settlements, from Northeastern Argentina (NEA). In addition, one Popcorn landrace from Northwestern Argentina (NWA) was incorporated for comparison. We characterized these landraces using ten microsatellite markers. For the whole data set, a total of 65 alleles were found, with an average of 7.22 alleles per locus. The average gene diversity was 0.370. Global fit to Hardy–Weinberg proportions was observed in all landraces. Global estimates of F _ST revealed a significant differentiation among the populations. Individual Neighbor-joining clustering and Bayesian analyses allowed the recognition of most populations studied. Two main groups were distinguished by the Neighbor-joining clustering of populations. This grouping pattern would be consistent with a hypothesis of successive introductions of Popcorn in South America. The results presented will be useful to design strategies that maximize the utility of maize genetic resources.     

Genetic composition of the Jadro softmouth trout following translocation into a new habitat

Genetic founder effects of a historical translocation (1965; app. 12 generations ago) of endangered softmouth trout from the only remaining indigenous population to an adjacent uninhabited river were investigated. A comparison of 15 microsatellites from contemporary samples in both the source and re-established populations indicated a very low level of genetic diversity within the two populations. Furthermore, considerable differences in estimates of variability and effective population sizes were detected between populations, but no recent bottlenecks were evident. Our data suggest that the re-established population has lost variation due to genetic drift associated with founder effects following the translocation. Accordingly, in relation to management, we suggest that the re-established population could serve as a secondary source of individuals to buffer possible extinction due to demographic events. Finally, conservation initiatives to enhance the census population size and increase levels of variability in the re-established population are proposed. Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at and is accessible for authorized users.