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Population genetic study in the Balearic endemic plant species Digitalis minor (Scrophulariaceae) using RAPD markers
Author(s) -
Sales Ester,
Nebauer Sergio G.,
Mus Maurici,
Segura Juan
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
american journal of botany
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.218
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1537-2197
pISSN - 0002-9122
DOI - 10.2307/3558349
Subject(s) - biology , rapd , population , scrophulariaceae , cline (biology) , outcrossing , genetic diversity , botany , minor allele frequency , zoology , genetics , allele frequency , allele , gene , pollen , demography , sociology
Digitalis minor (Scrophulariaceae) is a cardenolide‐producing plant endemic to the eastern Balearic Islands (Mallorca, Menorca, and Cabrera) that occurs in two morphologically distinct varieties: D. minor var. minor (pubescent) and D. minor var. palaui (glabrous). Levels and patterns of genetic diversity in 162 individuals from 17 D. minor populations across the entire geographic range were assessed using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers. Comigrating RAPD fragments tested were found to be homologous by Southern hybridization in both var. minor and var. palaui. To avoid bias in parameter estimation, analyses of population genetic structure were restricted to those RAPD bands that fulfilled the 3/ N criterion (observed frequencies were less than 1 − [3/ N ] in each population) either among or within each island. Analyses of molecular variance (AMOVAs) with distances among individuals corrected for the dominant nature of RAPD (genotypic analysis) showed low values (1.57–17.55%) of between‐population variability, indicating a relatively restricted population differentiation as expected for an outcrossing species such as D. minor. Nested AMOVAs demonstrated, however, a not significant partitioning of genetic diversity among Mallorca, Menorca, and Cabrera islands. Estimates of the Wright, Weir, and Cockerham and the Lynch and Milligan F ST from null allele frequencies corroborated AMOVA partitioning and provided evidence for population differentiation in D. minor. Our RAPD data did not show significant differences between pubescent and glabrous populations of D. minor , suggesting a failure to find a correlation between the RAPD loci and this morphological trait.