Genetic Diversity In Population Of Abies Yuanbaoshanensis Revealed By AFLP Markers

Abies yuanbaoshanensis is a Guangxi endemic and endangered evergreen coniferous arbor,listed in the Red Data Book of plant in P.R.C,being one of the stated-proteced first-class rare and endangered plants. It is distributed only in Yuanbaoshan mountain in northern Guangxi. Abies yuanbaoshanensis having survived the Quaternary Period Ice-age is significant not only to studying the occurrence and evolution of the Chinese ancient south plant flora but also to the ancient climate and geography. Especially,it has the scientific value of inquiring into the climate of the Quaternary Period Ice-age and is called live fossil because it could provide the basis for studying the climatic change and the changes of plant. Endangered Abies yuanbaoshanensis will probably have been extinct,so it very necessary to studying its genetic diversity with a proper way in order to save this key group of biological diversity in China.In the present study,AFLP(amplified fragment length polymorphism) markers was used to examine population of Abies yuanbaoshanensis in order to understand the level of population genetic variation and genetic structure. The result would help to evaluate its evolutionary potentiality and the degree of being endangered and could provide scientific basis for making right protection strategy .High-quality DNA was extracted using CTAB method from those tender leaves of forty-three fully-developed trees in population Abies yuanbaoshanensis. Primers of EcoRI were signed with fluorescent dye and four pairs of primers were selected from twenty-four pairs. 261 DNA fragments were generated by the four pairs of primers in forty-three individuals sampled. Percentage of polymorphic bands is 51%,the value of Shannon index(I) is 0.086 and Nei's gene diversity(h) is 0.151. The genetic data were analyzed using the POPGENE version 1.31 and the NTSYS version 2.02 and dendrograms were constructed using similarity coefficient and UPGMA clustering method. This study showed that population genetic diversity was much lower than other Gymnosperm and there was no distinct genetic differentiation among individuals in this population. In order to protect or preserve its genetic resource,it is suggested that the most individuals in the population should be selected as we can.