Genetic Differentiation of Quercus mongolica and Q. liaotungensis Based on Morphological Observation,Isozyme and DNA Analysis

The Liaodong oak ( Quercus liaotungensis Koidz. ) is a close relative of the Mongolia oak ( Q. mongolica Fisch. ) which were separated by some morphological characters, such as the number of leaf lobes and the squamate form of cupula. Recently some authors observed that morphological diversity made the Liaodong oak unable to separate clearly from the Mongolia one, therefore, plant materials have been collected from Maoer Mountain of Heilongjiang province as a typical Q. mongolica population, and from Guandi Mountain of Shanxi Province which represented the typical Liaodong oak population to compare isozyme and DNA diversity between both species. The winter bud samples were also analysed from Dongling Mountain near Beijing City since Dongling population is an intermediate form between the Maoer population and the Guandi population morphologically. Statistics of 13 putative loci belonging to 5 enzymes showed a high level of diversity within all populations. The value of genetic distance among populations was low, and showed that the Dongling population genetically located at the middle of both typical species. DNA data also showed that both typical oak populations shared similar variation with the Dongling population. Among 172 polymorphic RAPD and DAF loci, no population-specific band has been found. A significant difference in frequency of amplified products existed in 26 loci. Except for 3 irregular ones, frequency distribution of 23 loci seems clinal. The Dongling population also genetically located at the middle of both flanking populations. It was worth to note that the OPD-08434 was probably unique to the Dongling oak since its frequency in the Guandi population has been estimated up to 100% and decreased to 0 in the Maeer population. The Dongling population received this unique DNA from the Guandi population probably by introgression. The strong gene flow in both directions implied a long history of distributive continuity for both oak species. High levels of morphological, isozymatic and DNA diversity supplied enough genetic basis for reconstruction of degraded oak ecosystems.