Morphological and genetic differentiation of populations of Rhododendron aureum Georgi. (Ericaceae) in the mountains of southern Siberia and on the Kamchatka Peninsula
N. A. TIKHONOVA1, M. A. POLEZHAEVA2
1V. N. Sukachev Institute of Forest SB RAS, Krasnoyarsk, Russia
2Instituteof Plant and Animal Ecology UB RAS, Ekaterinburg, Russia
Keywords: Rhododendron aureum, morphological variability, nuclear microsatellite markers, nSSRs, geographic populations
Abstract
A study of morphological traits in populations of R. aureum from the Western and Eastern Sayan and Kamchatka was carried out. The variability of genetic nuclear DNA microsatellite markers (nSSRs) was studied in the same samples. A total of 15 absolute and relative morphological traits of shoots and leaves, as well as 18 polymorphic microsatellite markers in 8 natural populations of R. aureum were observed. It was found that the following parameters were the most variable within species populations: plant size, shoot length, length of the foliated part of shoots and number of leaves relative to shoot length; more stable parameters were relative leaf shape parameters. Reliable division of populations into 3 geographical groups on all set of morphological characters is established. A great contribution to the division of geographical groups of populations and individual populations of an important taxonomic character - the duration of leaf life on the shoot was noted. The revealed structure of morphological differentiation of populations is confirmed by the results of the analysis of genetic variability of the same populations of R.aureum by nuclear microsatellite markers. The greatest genetic distances from other populations are established for Kamchatka populations. There is a tendency to differentiation of populations within the Altai-Sayan mountain country. The results of the study agree well with the information on geography, ecology and biology of the species. The study of intra- and interpopulation morphological differentiation of R. aureum populations in Siberia was conducted for the first time, following the recently initiated studies on genetic variability of the species in Northern Eurasia.
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