Study On The Phylogeography Of Primula Ranunculoides

Primula ranunculoides Chen,endemic to China,now is a rare and endangered species.To reveal its phylogeographic patterns,the trnL-F,trnS-G plastid DNA and ITS of 114 individuals sampled from eleven natural populations were sequenced and analyzed.5 haplotypes were identified by ITS.The borders of Anhui and Jiangxi provinces,such as SJA?SJB?YJPA?YJPB?YL?MZS 6 populations shared a haplotype(H5),YMSB and YMSC two populations shared a haplotype(H3),and the rest of populations were fixed with only one unique haplotype.In total,10 haplotypes were identified by Chloroplast DNA,combining ITS and Chloroplast DNA with same results,and populations were fixed with only one unique haplotype,except for populations YJPA and YJPB,which shared a haplotype(H9).The discriminative power of ITS molecular markers was lower than those of chloroplast molecular markers,and the results of ITS molecular markers supported the results of chloroplast analysis.Primula ranunculoides had a highly differentiated and significant phylogeographic structure,which average genetic distance among populations was 0.015 and which average number of mutations between haplotypes was up to 31.2 steps by Chloroplast DNA,that significantly higher than those of the related species in the genus.The ITS result showed that average genetic distance among populations was 0.009 and the average number of mutations between haplotypes was up to 6.3 steps.Combining the three sequences revealed that the average genetic distance among populations was 0.013 and the average number of mutations between haplotypes was up to 35.4 steps.Primula ranunculoides in the region of Yangming Mount and Jinpengtang with monostylous flowers,while in other regions with distylous flowers.There was an earlier and high differentiation between two groups with different flower morphology,which suggest that the change of flower pattern along with the transformation of the breeding system(outcrossing to selfing)may promote the formation of new species.The high differentiation between the populations and the haplotypes of this species may be explained by its limited seeds dispersal ability,habitat fragmentation,isolation of geographical distance and biennial life form.Samova,Structure and TCS analysis unanimously supported to cluster the 11 sampled populations into six groups,which were closely correlated with topographical features and highly differentiated among each other.Accordingly,populations from different mountains should be considered as different genetic management units for conservation purposes.