Plant height variation and genetic diversity between Prunus ledebouriana (Schlecht.) YY Yao and Prunus tenella Batsch based on using SSR markers in East Kazakhstan

PeerJ. 2024 Jan 11:12:e16735. doi: 10.7717/peerj.16735. eCollection 2024.

Abstract

Background: Genetic differences between isolated endemic populations of plant species and those with widely known twin species are relevant for conserving the biological diversity of our planet's flora. Prunus ledebouriana (Schlecht.) YY Yao is an endangered and endemic species of shrub almond from central Asia. Few studies have explored this species, which is closely related and morphologically similar to the well-known Prunus tenella Batsch. In this article, we present a comparative analysis of studies of three P. ledebouriana populations and one close population of P. tenella in Eastern Kazakhstan in order to determine the particular geographic mutual replacement of the two species.

Methods: The populations were collected from different ecological niches, including one steppe population near Ust-Kamenogorsk (P. tenella) and three populations (P. ledebouriana) in the mountainous area. Estimation of plant height using a t-test suggested a statistically significant difference between the populations and the two species (P < 0.0001). DNA simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers were applied to study the two species' genetic diversity and population structure.

Results: A total of 19 polymorphic SSR loci were analyzed, and the results showed that the population collected in mountainous areas had a lower variation level than steppe populations. The highest level of Nei's genetic diversity index was demonstrated in the 4-UK population (0.622) of P. tenella. The lowest was recorded in population 3-KA (0.461) of P. ledebouriana, collected at the highest altitude of the four populations (2,086 meters above sea level). The total genetic variation of P. ledebouriana was distributed 73% within populations and 27% between populations. STRUCTURE results showed that two morphologically similar species diverged starting at step K = 3, with limited population mixing. The results confirmed the morphological and genetic differences between P. tenella and P. ledebouriana and described the level of genetic variation for P. ledebouriana. The study's results proved that the steppe zone and mountain altitude factor between P. tenella and isolated mountain samples of P. ledebouriana.

Keywords: Genetic diversity; Populations; Prunus ledebouriana (Schlecht.) YY Yao; Prunus tenella Batsch; SSR.

MeSH terms

  • Genetic Markers / genetics
  • Genetic Variation / genetics
  • Kazakhstan
  • Microsatellite Repeats / genetics
  • Prunus dulcis* / genetics
  • Prunus* / genetics

Substances

  • Genetic Markers

Grants and funding

This research has been funded by the Science Committee of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Grant No. AP19177914 “Study of genetic polymorphism of endemic representatives of Prunus subgenus. Amygdalus (L.) Focke on different mountain ranges of Kazakhstan” 2023–2025 at the Environmental Research Laboratory “NatureLab” of Astana International University of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan of the Republic of Kazakhstan. AP05131621 “Information system for molecular genetics and botanical documentation of the wild flora of Kazakhstan” for 2018–2020 in the Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, Institute of Plant Biology and Biotechnology of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.