Variability and structure of natural populations of Hordelymus europaeus (L.) Jess. ex Harz and Leymus arenarius (L.) Hochst. as revealed by morphology and DNA markers

Seven populations of Hordelymus europaeus and four populations of Leymus arenarius from Poland were subjected to examination of 36 morphological characters. This study showed that both species are relatively uniform and that morphological variation of their populations represents a continuum. Of those, three populations of either species were selected for analysis with molecular markers – RAPDs and AFLPs. These populations differed with respect of geographical location as well as syntaxa and habitat. RAPD-PCR was performed for individual plants and clearly grouped them according to the population origin. For either H. europaeus or L. arenarius - the studied populations differed in degree of their intrinsic variation while none of them as a whole was significantly different from the remaining ones. In AFLP analysis the studied populations were represented by DNA pools of several individual plants. Also this approach allowed discrimination among the population samples of both H. europaeus and L. arenarius. Both RAPDs and AFLPs were accordant in indication that H. europaeus exceeds L. arenarius with respect to variation accumulated at the DNA level. It is the sixth paper of the series: Biodiversity of wild Triticeae (Poaceae) in Poland. The first is: M. Mizianty (2005). Variability and structure of natural populations of Elymus caninus (L.) L. based on morphology. Pl. Syst. Evol. 251: 199-216. The second: M. Mizianty, and M. Szklarczyk (2005). Systematic significance of Elymus caninus morphological characters revealed by AFLP analysis. In: L. Frey (ed.) Biology of grasses. W. Szafer Institute of Botany, Polish Academy of Sciences. Kraków, pp 9–21. The third: M. Mizianty et al. (2006). Variability and structure of natural populations of Elymus caninus (L.) L. and their possible relationship with Hordelymus europaeus (L.) Jess. ex Harz revealed by AFLP analysis. Pl. Syst. Evol. 256: 193–200. The fourth: M. Mizianty (2006). Variability and structure of natural populations of Hordeum murinum L. based on morphology. Pl. Syst. Evol. 261: 139–150. The fifth: B. Paszko Variability and structure of natural populations of Brachypodium pinnatum and B. sylvaticum based on morphology. Acta Soc. Bot. Pol. (in press).