Genetic diversity of Stipa bungeana populations in the Loess Plateau of China using inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers

Abstract

Inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers were used to determine the genetic diversity and genetic differentiation for eight natural populations of Stipa bungeana in the Loess Plateau of China. 15 primers produced stable and reproducible amplification bands which were selected from the screened 96 primers. Among a total of 390 amplified bands, 335 (85.90%) were polymorphic loci. At species level, Nei's gene diversity index and Shannon's information index were 0.1633 and 0.2703, respectively. Based on the cluster analysis, the eight populations were divided into three groups. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) demonstrated that the genetic variation was found mainly among populations, which accounted for 68.71% of the total variation, but the within-population accounted for 31.29%. Mantel test revealed no significant correlation between genetic distance and geographic distance (r= -0.1345, P= 0.71). In this study, the lower genetic diversity of S. bungeana may be related with human activities and habit destroyed. The conservation strategies further were proposed for this plant. Key words: Stipa bungeana, inter simple sequence repeats, genetic diversity, the Loess Plateau.