Genetic diversity and population structure of Camellia huana (Theaceae), a limestone species with narrow geographic range, based on chloroplast DNA sequence and microsatellite markers

Shuang Li; Shang-Li Liu; Si-Yu Pei; Man-Man Ning; Shao-Qing Tang

doi:10.1016/j.pld.2020.06.003

Genetic diversity and population structure of Camellia huana (Theaceae), a limestone species with narrow geographic range, based on chloroplast DNA sequence and microsatellite markers

Plant Divers. 2020 Jun 15;42(5):343-350. doi: 10.1016/j.pld.2020.06.003. eCollection 2020 Oct.

Authors

Shuang Li^{1

2}, Shang-Li Liu^{1

2}, Si-Yu Pei^{1

2}, Man-Man Ning³, Shao-Qing Tang^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Guangxi Key Laboratory of Rare and Endangered Animal Ecology, College of Life Science, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin, China.
² Key Laboratory of Ecology of Rare and Endangered Species and Environmental Protection, Ministry of Education, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin, China.
³ Longtan Nature Reserve Management Center, Hechi, China.

Abstract

Camellia huana is an endangered species with a narrow distribution in limestone hills of northern Guangxi and southern Guizhou provinces, China. We used one chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) fragment and 12 pairs of microsatellite (simple sequence repeat; SSR) markers to assess the genetic diversity and structure of 12 C. huana populations. A total of 99 alleles were detected for 12 polymorphic loci, and eight haplotypes and nine polymorphic sites were detected within 5200 bp of cpDNA. C. huana populations showed a low level of genetic diversity (n = 8, Hd = 0.759, Pi = 0.00042 for cpDNA, N _A = 3.931, H _E = 0.466 for SSRs), but high genetic differentiation between populations (F _ST = 0.2159 for SSRs, F _ST = 0.9318 for cpDNA). This can be attributed to the narrow distribution and limestone habitat of C. huana. STRUCTURE analysis divided natural C. huana populations into two groups, consistent with their geographical distribution. Thus, we suggest that five natural C. huana populations should be split into two units to be managed effectively.

Keywords: AMOVA, analysis of molecular variance; CTAB, cetyl trimethylammonium bromide; Camellia huana; Conservation implications; Genetic diversity; Genetic structure; PCR, polymerase chain reaction; PCoA, principal coordinate analysis; SMM, stepwise mutation model; SSC, small single-copy; SSR, simple sequence repeat; TPM, two-phased model; cpDNA, chloroplast DNA.