Abstract
Genetic variation of twelve Polish populations of <em>Primula veris </em>L. from western Poland was investigated in respect of six enzyme systems: 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (6PGD), diaphorase (DIA), menadione reductase (MNR), formate dehydrogenase (FDH), isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) and glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (GOT). Only two of them (6PGD and DIA) were polymorphic and all populations were compared according to four loci and eight alleles. For 6PGD only one out of the two detected loci (locus 6PGD-2) was polymorphic and consisted of three alleles <em>a</em>, <em>b </em>and <em>c</em>. For DIA each of two detected loci had two alleles. For 6PGD-2 one population was monomorphic and four populations were monomorphic for DIA-1 and DIA-2. The rest of the populations were polymorphic with low frequency of heterozygotes. The low heterozygosity level, found in the examined populations, was confirmed by high values of the fixation index (F). The level of genetic differentiation among GST populations specified for each polymorphic loci, was equal to 0.045 for 6PGD-2 and had the value of 0.078 for DIA-2 and 0.186 for DIA-1. Nm value for polymorphic loci was 1.10 for DIA-1 and 2.94 for DIA-2, and for 6PGD-2 was 5.33, what indicates some gene flow between the examined populations. The dendrogram constructed on the basis of genotype frequencies showed that the populations were divided into two groups, however the most southern population No. 2 was clearly similar to the northern population No. 8.
Highlights
Genus Primula (Primulaceae) is composed of approximately 500 hundred species distributed throughout temperate regions of the northern hemisphere (Mabberley 1989; Valentine and Kress 1972)
Our research was based on two polymorphic enzyme systems: 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (6PGD) and DIA, in which four loci with eight alleles were identified
The results presented in this study indicate a very low level of genetic differentiation in natural populations of Primula veris, what is inconsistent with heterostyly and outcrossing typical for this species, as well as with its wide distribution in Europe
Summary
Genus Primula (Primulaceae) is composed of approximately 500 hundred species distributed throughout temperate regions of the northern hemisphere (Mabberley 1989; Valentine and Kress 1972). Since the genetic structure of cowslip natural populations was until now not examined in our country, not much is known about the genetic variation of the species in question. In England, it was found that both established and colonising cowslip populations had a very low level of genetic differentiation (Antrobus and Lack 1993). It is surprising, since cowslip, as a long-lived perennial and insect pollinated species, is heterostylous and obligate outcrosser (Tamm 1972; Lack 1982; Wedderburn and Richards 1990). The obligatory outcrossing system may cause differentiation and genetic diversity in natural populations when plants reproduce generatively. Some studies show that clonal plants have the same level of genetic variation as non-clonal ones (Ellstrand and Roose 1987)
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