Genetic diversity analysis of sedges (Carex spp.) in Shandong,China based on inter-simple sequence repeat

As the plants of turfgrass, forage and environment protecting plants, Carex L. has important economic value. The aims of the study were to construct ISSR-PCR amplification reaction system on Carex and to investigate the genetic diversity of 16 Carex populations belonging to 10 species using inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) makers. A total of 120 polymorphic amplified bands were obtained from 6 primers, and the percentage of polymorphisms was 100%. Genetic similarity between accessions ranged from 0.4250 to 0.8667 with an average of 0.6459, suggesting that the collected accessions are genetically diverse. All accessions were grouped into 3 clusters according to the UPGMA dendrogram. Most of the populations from the same regions can be basically clustered together and molecular grouping of Carex spp. correlates with geographical distribution and ecological environment. However, a few appeared to be divergent with the geographical distribution. The results showed that ISSR maker is an effective tool for the study of genetic diversity in Carex. As for the genus Carex, such information is needed for successful management and preservation of species to ensure the maintenance of genetic variation.     

DO PHYLOGENETIC METHODS PRODUCE TREES WITH BIASED SHAPES?

We examine whether phylogenetic methods provide biased estimates of tree shape with respect to the random branching model. We investigate the performance of five commonly used phylogenetic methods using computer simulation: (1) maximum parsimony; (2) neighbor joining; (3) UPGMA with an outgroup taxon; (4) UPGMA without an outgroup taxon; and (5) maximum likelihood. All methods provide estimates of tree shape that are, on average, more asymmetrical than the true tree, especially when rates of evolution are high. We suggest a simple explanation for the bias and propose a modified test of tree shape that corrects for it.     

Accuracy of estimated phylogenetic trees from molecular data

Summary The accuracies and efficiencies of four different methods for constructing phylogenetic trees from molecular data were examined by using computer simulation. The methods examined are UPGMA, Fitch and Margoliash's (1967) (F/M) method, Farris' (1972) method, and the modified Farris method (Tateno, Nei, and Tajima, this paper). In the computer simulation, eight OTUs (32 OTUs in one case) were assumed to evolve according to a given model tree, and the evolutionary change of a sequence of 300 nucleotides was followed. The nucleotide substitution in this sequence was assumed to occur following the Poisson distribution, negative binomial distribution or a model of temporally varying rate. Estimates of nucleotide substitutions (genetic distances) were then computed for all pairs of the nucleotide sequences that were generated at the end of the evolution considered, and from these estimates a phylogenetic tree was reconstructed and compared with the true model tree. The results of this comparison indicate that when the coefficient of variation of branch length is large the Farris and modified Farris methods tend to be better than UPGMA and the F/M method for obtaining a good topology. For estimating the number of nucleotide substitutions for each branch of the tree, however, the modified Farris method shows a better performance than the Farris method. When the coefficient of variation of branch length is small, however, UPGMA shows the best performance among the four methods examined. Nevertheless, any tree-making method is likely to make errors in obtaining the correct topology with a high probability, unless all branch lengths of the true tree are sufficiently long. It is also shown that the agreement between patristic and observed genetic distances is not a good indicator of the goodness of the tree obtained.     

Construction of phylogenetic trees for proteins and nucleic acids: Empirical evaluation of alternative matrix methods

Summary The methods of Fitch and Margoliash and of Farris for the construction of phylogenetic trees were compared. A phenetic clustering technique - the UPGMA method — was also considered.The three methods were applied to difference matrices obtained from comparison of macromolecules by immunological, DNA hybridization, electrophoretic, and amino acid sequencing techniques. To evaluate the results, we used the goodness-of-fit criterion. In some instances, the F-M and Farris methods gave a comparably good fit of the output to the input data, though in most cases the F-M procedure gave a much better fit. By the fit criterion, the UPGMA procedure was on the average better than the Farris method but not as good as the F-M procedure.On the basis of the results given in this report and the goodness-of-fit criterion, it is suggested that where input data are likely to include overestimates as well as true estimates and underestimates of the actual distances between taxonomic units, the F-M method is the most reasonable to use for constructing phylogenies from distance matrices. Immunological, DNA hybridization, and electrophoretic data fall into this category. By contrast, where it is known that each input datum is indeed either a true estimate or an underestimate of the actual distance between 2 taxonomic units, the Farris procedure appears, on theoretical grounds, to be the matrix method of choice. Amino acid and nucleotide sequence data are in this category.The following abbreviations are used in this work F-M Fitch-Margoliash - UPGMA unweighted pair-group method using arithmetic averages - SD percent standard deviation     

野牡丹族数量分类的初步研究

用ＵＰＧＭＡ聚合法对野牡丹族的４２个性状进行Ｒ分析和对该族华南及台湾地区１５个分类群进行Ｑ分析．Ｒ分析的结果反映了性状之间相关进化及性状与分类群之间相关进化的规律性．Ｑ分析对这些分类群的分类系统做了初步的定量研究．其结论与经典分类基本吻合．Ｑ分析的结果还支持将台湾产的耳药花并入野牡丹属。     

基于SSR标记的荷花品种遗传多样性及群体结构分析

采用SSR标记技术对42个荷花品种( Nelumbo spp.)的基因组DNA进行扩增,在此基础上,对供试品种进行UPGMA聚类分析、群体结构分析和主坐标分析( PCoA)。结果表明：采用17对SSR引物从42个荷花品种的基因组DNA中扩增出77个位点,多态性位点百分率为88.31%;每对引物可扩增出1~9个多态性位点。根据Nei's遗传距离,供试的42个荷花品种可被分成Ⅰ和Ⅱ两组,分别包含3和39个品种;在Nei's遗传距离0.150处,Ⅱ组被进一步分成Ⅱa、Ⅱb和Ⅱc 3个亚组,分别包含3、16和20个品种。群体结构分析结果表明：组分概率高于等于0.80时,供试的42个荷花品种被分成Pop1、Pop2和混合群3个亚群,分别包含17、16和9个品种。 PCoA分析结果表明：在F1水平上,供试的42个荷花品种被分成2个部分;其中,Pop1亚群的品种均分布在第二和第三象限,而Pop2亚群的品种则分布在第一和第四象限。总体来看,聚类分析、群体结构分析和PCoA分析的结果基本一致。综合分析结果表明：玉组包含美洲黄莲( N. lutea Pers.)品种‘艾江南',且与传统中国莲( N. nucifera Gaertn.)品种的亲缘关系最远,故认为该组为美洲黄莲;Ⅱ组为中国莲,其中,Ⅱc亚组以传统中国莲品种为主,而Ⅱb亚组则偏重于美洲黄莲。总体上看,供试的42个荷花品种主要被分为中国莲和美洲黄莲两组,而中美杂交莲并没有独立成组,其成因有待进一步研究。     

基于30个形态性状的中国杏属（Armeniaca Scop.）植物分类学研究

基于与叶和果实相关的30个形态性状(包括20个定性性状和10个定量性状)对中国杏属( Armeniaca Scop.)11种3变种进行了UPGMA聚类分析和主成分分析;在主成分分析基础上,构建了中国杏属植物的OTU散点图;并且,结合降水量分布图绘制了中国杏属植物分布图。聚类分析结果显示：供试杏属植物被分成2支。若包含毛叶梅( A. mume var. goethartiana Koehne),则毛叶梅、梅( A. mume Sieb.)、洪平杏( A. hongpingensis C. L. Li)以及政和杏( A. zhengheensis J. Y. Zhang et M. N. Lu)聚为一支,其余8种2变种聚为另一支;若不包含毛叶梅,梅则被划分在后一个分支中。主成分分析结果显示：前3个主成分的累计贡献率仅60.3180%,说明中国杏属植物的形态性状具有较大的遗传变异;在前3个主成分中,树高、叶片下表面被毛情况、叶长/叶柄长比值、叶长/叶宽比值、果核形状、叶宽、果核宽、叶柄长、果柄长和叶缘锯齿形状的绝对权重值均在0.7以上,表明这10个性状在中国杏属植物的分类学研究中具有重要作用。 OTU散点图显示：中国杏属植物在二维散点图上的分类结果与其聚类结果基本一致,并且,其聚类结果中的各分支在三维散点图上也能够明显区分,说明可以采用前3个主成分中绝对权重值较高的性状对中国杏属植物进行分类。分布图显示：杏属植物遍布中国各省(区),且主要集中分布在400和800 mm等降水量线之间的区域。结合上述研究结果及他人的研究成果,支持“将藏杏﹝A. holosericea ( Batal.) Kost.〕作为杏( A. vulgaris Lam.)的1个变种”以及“将政和杏作为梅的1个变种”的分类处理,并支持“将洪平杏作为独立种”的分类处理。此外,建议将仙居杏( A. xianjuxing J. Y. Zhang et X. Z. Wu)和华仁杏( A. cathayana D. L. Fu et al)作为杏属的栽培种。     

早熟禾品种间遗传多样性分析

草地早熟禾（Poa pratensis L.）是一种重要的冷季型草坪草,抗逆性强,适应性广,株型低矮,绿色期长,并且在良好的管理条件下,特别适合用作运动场草坪。近几年来在我国的园林绿化和建植运动场中得到了广泛的应用,现在已经引进的品种多达上百种。选用28个随机引物对15个草地早熟禾品种和1个加拿大早熟禾品种进行RAPD分析,25个引物共扩增出218条带,多态条带比率为89.91％。并且对每个品种的几项坪用特性进行了观察。聚类分析结果表明草地早熟禾品种之间的遗传多样性较低, 相似性集中在60.76％～98.52％。加拿大早熟禾的一个品种单成一支,与其他草地早熟禾的品种相似性较低。品种之间的聚类关系与表型特征呈现不完全相关性。     

Morphometric,meristic and ISSR marker systems for species identification and evolutionary analysis in five Indian Channids

Snakehead species belonging to Channidae are primary group of freshwater air breathing fishes having their confined distribution in African and Asian continents. ISSR – PCR was used to investigate the phylogenetic relationship among five Channidae species viz. Channa striatus, Channa marulius, Channa punctatus, Channa diplogramme and Channa gachua. In addition, morphometric and meristic characters were subjected to principal component analysis (PCA) and the bootstrap values within the species were also calculated. The genetic identity between the species ranged from 0.5526 to 0.7632 and the genetic distance ranged from 0.2703 to 0.5931. The Nei's gene diversity (H) was calculated as 0.2653 and the Shannon's information index (I) was 0.3842. UPGMA dendrogram arrived by the morphological and molecular markers revealed the closeness between C. striatus and C. marulius among the five species.     

Identification and characterization of salt responsive miRNA-SSR markers in rice (Oryza sativa)

Salinity is an important abiotic stress that affects agricultural production and productivity. It is a complex trait that is regulated by different molecular mechanisms. miRNAs are non-coding RNAs which are highly conserved and regulate gene expression. Simple sequence repeats (SSRs) are robust molecular markers for studying genetic diversity. Although several SSR markers are available now, challenge remains to identify the trait-specific SSRs which can be used for marker assisted breeding. In order to understand the genetic diversity of salt responsive-miRNA genes in rice, SSR markers were mined from 130 members of salt-responsive miRNA genes of rice and validated among the contrasting panels of tolerant as well as susceptible rice genotypes, each with 12 genotypes. Although 12 miR-SSRs were found to be polymorphic, only miR172b-SSR was able to differentiate the tolerant and susceptible genotypes in 2 different groups. It had also been found that miRNA genes were more diverse in susceptible genotypes than the tolerant one (as indicated by polymorphic index content) which might interfere to form the stem-loop structure of premature miRNA and their subsequent synthesis in susceptible genotypes. Thus, we concluded that length variations of the repeats in salt responsive miRNA genes may be responsible for a possible sensitivity to salinity adaptation. This is the first report of characterization of trait specific miRNA derived SSRs in plants.