Determination of the genetic diversity in the natural populations of Nageia wallichiana (C. Persl) Kuntze in Tay Nguyen using ISSR markers

Abstract

Nageia wallichiana (C. Presl) Kuntze is a member of Podocarpaceae family, which is one of 15 species ofconiferous trees in the Central Highlands. It is a species of high economic value, which is widely distributed inmany provinces in the country, there is a rish of genetic diversity loss due to over exploitation. In this study, 30 ISSR markers were used to analyze the genetic diversity of species collected in Xa Hieu, Ta Nung, Da Chay,Hoa Son and A Yun in the Central Highlands, Vietnam. Results of the analysis showed 29/30 markerspolymorphic. A total of 169 DNA fragments were amplified, in which 114 fragments were polymorphic(67.46%). Genetic diversity was the highest in Xa Hieu population of Kon Tum province (I = 0.350, h = 0.247,PPB = 57.53%, Ne = 1.436 and He = 0.242) and the lowest in A Yun population of Gia Lai province (I =0.116, h = 0.091, PPB = 20.55%, Ne = 1.135 and He = 0.078). Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA)results showed that the total level of molecular changes between populations was 40.07% and betweenindividuals in the same population was 59.93%. A dendrogram constructed based on similarity matrix of 70 N.wallichiana samples divided the samples into two main groups with genetic similarity coefficients ranged from0,62 (Nw5 and Nw68) to 1.0 (Nw36 and Nw37). Molecular analysis results showed that Nageia wallichiana species should be protected at the population level.