Abstract: | This study determined the sequences of chloro plast DNA(cpDNA)trnL-F non-coding regions of indiViduals of a tropical coniferous species,Dacrydium pectinatum,collected from 12 natural populations located in Hainan Province,southern China.Sequence length varied from 868 bp to 876 bp,indicating length polymorphism.Base composition in the sequences was high in A+T content between 64.17% and 64.95%.and no recombination event occurred (Rm=0).Thirty haplotypes were identified based on statistical parsimony algorithm by running the TCS program.Populations of D.pectinatum in Hainan were lacking genetic differentiation.Such a deduction was supported by the observed FST values(0.00),AMOVA(24.17% of molecular variance attributed to difference among populations,P>0.05),high values of Nm(ranging from 1.92 to 2.50)and the branching structure in neighbor-joining(NJ)tree conin the TCS network of trnL-F haplotypes,and majority of the haplotypes coalesced near the tips in NJ tree.Gene genealogies of cpDNA haplotypes proposed a recent population expansion of D.pectinatum in Hainan,which was further supported by the results from Tajima's D test and mismatch distribution analysis.Our data.in COnjunction with geological and palynological evidences,showed that in the Holocene,due to global warming,refugee populations of D.pectinatum in Hainan might experience a range expansion. |