Abstract
The genetic diversity of 123 wild strains of Pleurotus eryngii var. tuoliensis, which were collected from nine geographical locations in Yumin, Tuoli, and Qinghe counties in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of China, was analysed using two molecular marker systems (inter-simple sequence repeat and start codon targeted). At the variety level, the percentage of polymorphic loci and Nei’s gene diversity index for P. eryngii var. tuoliensis was 96.32% and 0.238, respectively. At the population level, Nei’s gene diversity index ranged from 0.149 to 0.218 with an average of 0.186, and Shannon's information index ranged from 0.213 to 0.339 with an average of 0.284. These results revealed the abundant genetic variability in the wild resources of P. eryngii var. tuoliensis. Nei’s gene diversity analysis indicated that the genetic variance was mainly found within individual geographical populations, and the analysis of molecular variance revealed low but significant genetic differentiation among local and regional populations. The limited gene flow (Nm = 1.794) was inferred as a major reason for the extent of genetic differentiation of P. eryngii var. tuoliensis. The results of Mantel tests showed that the genetic distance among geographical populations of P. eryngii var. tuoliensis was positively correlated with the geographical distance and the longitudinal distances (rGo = 0.789 and rLn = 0.873, respectively), which indicates that geographical isolation is an important factor for the observed genetic differentiation. Nine geographical populations of P. eryngii var. tuoliensis were divided into three groups according to their geographical origins, which revealed that the genetic diversity was closely related to the geographical distribution of this wild fungus.
Highlights
The Pleurotus mushroom, which is commercially called Bai Ling Gu, is a precious edible fungus of high nutrient and medicinal value [1,2]
Dominant markers are characterized by estimating unbiased genetic variation and no sequence requirement, which makes them appropriate to analyze those species of little or no genetic information [39,42]
High levels of genetic variability are usually observed in wild populations that reproduce sexually, have broad ecological niches, and/or have a wide geographical distribution [43]
Summary
The Pleurotus mushroom, which is commercially called Bai Ling Gu, is a precious edible fungus of high nutrient and medicinal value [1,2]. In the wild, this mushroom parasitically or saprophytically grows together with Ferula plants in the Umbelliferae family [3]. This mushroom parasitically or saprophytically grows together with Ferula plants in the Umbelliferae family [3] It has a restricted habitat in the northwest part of China, i.e., Xinjiang Autonomous Region [4]. The scientific name was defined as Pleurotus eryngii var. tuoliensis through morphological identification and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) analysis [8]
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