Genetic variability and bottleneck detection of four Tricholoma matsutake populations from northeastern and southwestern China

The excessive commercial collection of matsutake mushrooms can lead to extreme reduction of population size, which may cause genetic bottleneck and decrease genetic diversity of Tricholoma matsutake. Here, six polymorphic microsatellite loci markers were used to examine the genetic diversity of four natural T. matsutake populations from two main producing regions of China. The minimum combinations of four loci were able to discriminate total 86 sampled individuals with distinctive multilocus genotypes. Our analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) revealed that about 80% and 20% of the overall genetic variation were respectively partitioned within and among populations. The principal‐coordinate analyses (PCA) distinguished the four tested populations into three genetic clusters, each of which was correlated with respective endemic host plants on a geographical basis. The AMOVA, PCA and pairwise population F_ST estimates consistently displayed the same genetic divergence patterns and spatial structure of T. matsutake mediated by host plants in China. The significant heterozygosity excesses demonstrated that a recent genetic bottleneck occurred in each population tested. The complementary M‐ratio test indicated past genetic bottleneck events over longer periods. Only four individuals were identified as putative first generation migrants within northeastern China, which implies restricted interpopulation gene flow in T. matsutake. We discuss that the significant genetic differentiation among populations of T. matsutake is most likely a function of host adaptation, host specificity, genetic bottleneck, limited dispersal and habitat fragmentation.