| Abstract: | The level of within- and among-population variation of larch inhabiting the range of Larix olgensis A. Henry in Primorye was estimated on the basis of 440 RAPD loci identified by means of 12 random primers. In ten population examined, the proportion of polymorphic loci was 35-60%, the average expected heterozygosity varied from 0.1340 to 2169, and the average gene flow estimate was 1.38. According to Fisher's test for heterogeneity, the pairwise differences of the fragment frequencies between the populations were statistically significant. The subdivision index G(ST) = 0.2663 indicated that the interpopulation variation component accounted for approximately 27% of the total variation. Coefficients of Nei's genetic distance between the populations varied from 0.0137 to 0.0934. Most of the samples with high support clustered according to the geographic positions relative to one another within the range. These results suggest that the populations examined are characterized by high genetic variation, like the larch populations of Siberia and the Russian Far East studied earlier, but, in contrast to the latter, exhibit higher among-population variability. |
