Open AccessLow genetic diversity and allozymic evidence for autopolyploidy in the tetraploid Pyrenean endemic larkspur Delphinium montanum (Ranunculaceae)
Author(s) -
LÓPEZPUJOL JORDI,
ORELLANA MARIA RENÉE,
BOSCH MARIA,
SIMON JOAN,
BLANCHÉ CÈSAR
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
botanical journal of the linnean society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.872
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1095-8339
pISSN - 0024-4074
DOI - 10.1111/j.1095-8339.2007.00689.x
Subject(s) - biology , ranunculaceae , delphinium , genetic diversity , perennial plant , botany , population , zoology , demography , sociology
Allozyme electrophoresis was conducted to survey the levels and distribution of genetic diversity in the tetraploid perennial larkspur Delphinium montanum (Ranunculaceae), which is endemic to the eastern Pyrenees of Spain and France and considered to be endangered. Seven populations were sampled, resolving 14 putative enzymatic loci belonging to eight enzymes. Banding patterns stained in gels revealed several enzymatic duplications attributable to autotetraploidy, such as the presence of both balanced and unbalanced heterozygotes and the lack of fixed heterozygosity. However, variability in D. montanum ( P = 23.8%, A = 1.48, and H e = 0.082) was lower than that expected for an autotetraploid species. This, in addition to the scarcity of loci showing three or four different alleles, could indicate that this species has suffered genetic erosion through population bottlenecks, or, alternatively, that it is undergoing diploidization. © 2007 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society , 2007, 155 , 211–222.